NEWS (September 14, 2020)

AVER LEX defended the interests of judges before the Supreme Council of Justice

The team of AVER LEX Attorneys at Law has once again made a stand for protection of the Ukrainian judicial system by defending the interests of a number of judges before the Supreme Council of Justice (SCJ).

In the past few years, there has been an unspoken confrontation in Ukraine between certain law-enforcement agencies and judges of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv (DACK), which considers disputes arising between citizens and representatives or senior officials of government bodies, including law-enforcement agencies.

The law-enforcement agencies initiate criminal proceedings, use operative, technical and other special means, including high-profile information campaigns, against the court. The aim of these actions is to discredit the court and restrict the possibility for this court’s judges to administer justice. As a result, the principled stance taken by the court during consideration of disputes between citizens and law-enforcement agencies has served as grounds for such heightened attention on the part of law-enforcers.

Within the scope of one of the criminal proceedings, the prosecutor-general’s office initiated a motion to remove the judges of the DACK from administering justice filed with the Supreme Council of Justice, a disciplinary body dealing with judges and public prosecutors. A similar motion on the same grounds and documents, but in different proceedings, was filed by the prosecutor-general’s office in 2019, but was rejected by the SCJ as groundless.

On 1 September 2020 the SCJ considered a motion from law-enforcers against judges during a 12-hour hearing. Olga Prosyanyuk, managing partner, who represented the judges, pointed to the SCJ members that the claims made by the prosecution were mainly based on the same circumstances, evidence and documents, which were used in a similar motion a year ago, which was rejected. She also voiced a number of severe violations of procedures and laws of Ukraine during the investigation regarding the judges, and the preparation and submission of documents to the SCJ.

Based on the clearly compelling objection made by the lawyers of AVER LEX, filed on behalf of the judges and provided evidence, the SCJ members passed a unanimous decision to reject the motion to remove the judges from administering justice. The team of 10 lawyers led by Olga Prosyanyuk, managing partner, worked on the project.

 

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