Venediktova opens five criminal cases against Poroshenko

08.04.2020 18:10

Ukrinform

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has opened five criminal cases concerning possible unlawful actions of the former president, Petro Poroshenko, during the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

The relevant information has been published on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

According to the report, proceedings were initiated on April 6 on the basis of an appeal from employees of the Supreme Court of Ukraine regarding possible unlawful actions when issuing presidential decrees No. 357/2017 of November 10, 2017 and No. 195/2019 of May 7, 2019 on the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court.

According to the appeal, the grounds for issuing the presidential decrees do not comply with the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine and the law of Ukraine "On the Judicial System and Status of Judges" stated in them.

In addition, judges were appointed not to the Supreme Court, as provided by Article 125 of the Constitution of Ukraine, but to the courts of cassation the unconstitutionality of which was recognized by a judgment of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the case on a constitutional motion filed by 62 Ukrainian MPs. Employees of the Supreme Court also stated in their appeal that they were illegally deprived of the right to work and remuneration for it in connection with the so-called liquidation of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

These actions were qualified under Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or office), Part 2 of Article 376 (interference with the activities of the judiciary), Part 4 of Article 382 (non-enforcement of a court judgment), Parts 1, 2 of Article 109 (actions aimed at forcibly altering or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In accordance with the requirements of Part 7 of Article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, on April 7, 2020, the pretrial investigation in five criminal proceedings on the above facts was entrusted to investigators of the central office of the State Bureau of Investigation.

Prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General are conducting procedural guidance in the pretrial investigation.

Petro Poroshenko was elected the president of Ukraine in 2014 and became the fifth president in independent Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky became his successor in 2019.