Former HCJ member: PGO is obliged to open criminal proceedings on a judge's statement about pressure and interference in its activities

The Office of the Prosecutor General is obliged to enter information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI) upon a judge's application for pressure on him or her and interference in his or her activities. This opinion was expressed by former member of the High Council of Justice Andriy Boyko in an exclusive commentary to UNN .

Details

Earlier, Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Rada's tax committee, published several posts on his Telegram channel , calling on the public to put pressure on the court and openly criticizing the decisions of the judges. Judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv Vitalii Tsyktych appealed to the High Council of Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office with a statement about pressure from Hetmantsev and the MP's attempts to influence the court's decisions and interfere in its activities. After that, Hetmantsev published another post in which he criticized the decision of the panel of judges of the Dnipro District Administrative Court. They recognized that the National Bank had made an illegal decision to revoke the license and start liquidating Concord Bank. Probably in this way, Hetmantsev wanted to influence the judges who would consider the NBU's appeal. Judge Tsiktich told UNN that the Prosecutor General's Office refused to open criminal proceedings on his application. 

When there is a request from a judge, they (the PGOs - ed.) are obliged to at least enter information into the pre-trial investigation register (URPTI - ed.) and start a pre-trial investigation of all circumstances related to the influence on the judge, i.e. interference in the administration of justice. What does it mean for them to have insufficient grounds? I don't know the nature of the case, the judge's appeal, but if there is such an appeal, there must have been someone who influenced him. And this is already enough if there is a fact of influence on the judge in order to administer justice

According to him, if the Prosecutor General's Office has taken such a position and refused to open criminal proceedings, then the High Council of Justice should be very active in such circumstances.

The HCJ should have protected the interests of judges, since it is about judicial independence. And in fact, according to the law, it is the HCJ that should take all measures to guarantee judicial immunity and independence

Recall

Earlier, the president of the All-Ukrainian Association of Judges, Denys Neviadomskyi, emphasized that Hetmantsev violates the Criminal Code of Ukraine with his calls . According to him, the MP, in particular, calls for interference in the work of the court and violates the presumption of innocence.

Lawyer Dmytro Kasyanenko noted that Hetmantsev's post could be regarded as pressure on the judge and influence on his decision. Lawyer Serhiy Lysenko believes that Hetmantsev is trying to influence the court through social media through public opinion and is taking on the role of a judge, determining which decision of the Themis will be legal in the criminal proceedings on illegal tobacco.