Judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court Ihor Zheleznyi suspended from administering justice: decision of the High Council of Justice

The High Council of Justice considered the petition of the Deputy Prosecutor General – Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office Oleksandr Klymenko regarding the temporary suspension of Supreme Court judge Ihor Zheleznyi from administering justice due to his criminal prosecution.

In the petition, the SAP requests to temporarily suspend the Supreme Court judge from administering justice for two months due to criminal prosecution under Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, under the procedural guidance of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, is conducting a pre-trial investigation in a criminal proceeding separated from a broader investigation concerning corruption schemes in the judicial system involving other officials.

According to the petition materials, the judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court allegedly received an unlawful benefit in an especially large amount for making a decision in a case related to a corporate dispute.

Specifically, the petition mentions the judge's influence on the results of the cassation appeal regarding the cancellation of the decision of the appellate commercial court and the subsequent review of decisions of lower courts.
Additionally, the petition materials mention other episodes of possible unlawful benefit transfers, which, according to the investigation, occurred in 2023–2024.

The prosecution attached a significant amount of evidence to the petition, including:

• protocols of covert investigative (search) actions;

• audio and video surveillance materials;

• search protocols;

• witness testimonies;

• notification of suspicion and a ruling on the application of a preventive measure.

Prosecution's position

The SAP prosecutor during the petition hearing presented circumstances which, in his opinion, confirm the reasonableness of the suspicion.

Specifically, it concerns receiving an unlawful benefit for making a decision in favor of certain individuals and companies. According to the prosecution's calculations, the amount of the unlawful benefit exceeded the equivalent of 1,000,000 hryvnias (at the exchange rate at the time of the events).

The prosecutor emphasized that if the judge continues to administer justice, there are significant risks, including:

• destruction or forgery of documents;

• influence on witnesses;

• coordinating positions with other case figures.
As noted by the SAP prosecutor, the reasonableness of the suspicion was already checked by the court at the preliminary stage – the judge was assigned a preventive measure in the form of bail.

Defense's position

During the hearing, judge Ihor Zheleznyi and his defense attorney focused on the insufficient quality of the pre-trial investigation. The defense stated that during the three years after the discovery of the funds, the investigation did not conduct a number of obvious investigative actions: it did not interrogate all key witnesses, did not obtain data on the movement of funds and phone connections, and did not request video recordings from surveillance cameras. "Instead, how three years passed, we do not know what the investigative body was doing," emphasized the defense attorney.

The judge paid special attention to explaining the origin of the funds. According to him, 10 thousand US dollars were handed to him by the former head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyaziev at the latter's request to help servicemen of one of the military units of the territorial defense of the Mykolaiv region. Ihor Zheleznyi emphasized that the funds were intended specifically for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and part of the assistance was officially transferred through the accounting department. Regarding the meeting with the former head of the Supreme Court, recorded in the protocol of covert investigative actions, the judge stated that it was a chance meeting with a person he deeply respected, and there were no hints of unlawful benefit in the conversation.

Decision of the High Council of Justice

After hearing the parties, the High Council of Justice decided to partially satisfy the petition of the Deputy Prosecutor General – Head of the SAP – and temporarily suspend the Supreme Court judge from administering justice within the criminal proceedings regarding criminal prosecution.

As reported by "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", the High Council of Justice temporarily suspended Supreme Court Grand Chamber judge Zhanna Yelenina from administering justice during the pre-trial investigation.

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