HCJ and Council of Judges may oblige prosecutors to conduct a more thorough investigation into judge's statement about pressure from Hetmantsev - expert

The High Council of Justice and the Council of Judges may oblige the Prosecutor General's Office to conduct a more thorough investigation into the statement of Vitaliy Tsyktych, a judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, about pressure and interference in his activities by the head of the Rada's tax committee, Danylo Hetmantsev. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by Denys Neviadomskyi, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Judges.

Details

Earlier, Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Rada's tax committee, published several posts on his Telegram channel in which he called on the public to put pressure on the court and openly criticized the decisions of the judges. Judge Vitaliy Tsyktych of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv 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. A preliminary inspection of his application will be conducted by HCJ Chairman Hryhoriy Usyk.

After that, Hetmantsev published another post in which criticized the decision of the panel of judges of the Dnipropetrovs'k 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. 

The judge should appeal to the Council of Judges of Ukraine and the High Council of Justice to oblige the prosecutor to conduct a more thorough investigation

He added that the judge may appeal the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office to refuse to open criminal proceedings in court and oblige the Prosecutor General to enter information about the crime into the URPTI. 

As a rule, the prosecutor's office takes the side of more influential people. In this case, it was Hetmantsev, not the judge

Recall

Earlier, 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 activities 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 public opinion and assumes the role of a judge in determining which decision of the Themis will be legal in the criminal proceedings on illegal tobacco.