“Black day in the history of the court” continues: Stanislav Kravchenko was elected as the President of the Supreme Court
A total of 108 Supreme Court judges voted in favor of electing Stanislav Kravchenko, who serves as the Head of the Criminal Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court, as the President of the Supreme Court.
We have already provided information about the newly elected President:
- has a conclusion on low integrity from the Public Integrity Council;
- worked at the High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases, the architect of which was Andriy Portnov;
- indicated inaccurate information in property declarations;
- participated in adopting a decision that violated human rights, as indicated by the ECtHR.
Could it be worse for the already destroyed reputation of the Supreme Court? As it turned out, it can.
According to journalist Natalia Sokolenko, Judge Kravchenko made promises of service apartments in exchange for votes during the “pre-election” campaign among Supreme Court judges. However, that’s not the only issue at hand.
In 2003, Stanislav Kravchenko, together with another judge, Serhiy Slynko, who also succeeded in the competition for the new Supreme Court, released General Pukach, the murderer of journalist Gongadze, from custody. Consequently, Pukach managed to escape, and it wasn’t until 2009 that law enforcement agencies finally apprehended him.
The current situation serves as a clear signal: Supreme Court judges have shown society and international partners that they have not learned any lessons from the corruption scandal involving Vsevolod Knyazev and other judges. Instead of conducting a conscientious election and selecting a President with an impeccable reputation, they hastily elected the only candidate with a negative conclusion from the Public Integrity Council. A miracle did not happen, highlighting the urgent need for a genuine reform of the Supreme Court.
