Cheap land plots and questionable judicial decisions — all about the new candidates for the High Council of Justice

The selection process for the High Council of Justice continues. Yesterday, June 4, the Ethics Council interviewed attorney Ivashchenko and judge Zaichko.

Vladyslav Ivashchenko — attorney

Ivashchenko’s wife acquired a land plot for nearly $4,000, while the real value of such a plot, according to the Ethics Council, could be around $220,000. Ivashchenko claimed that a hectare of this land was priced at about $1,000, but the Ethics Council indicated that this price applied only to a hundred square meters. The lawyer tried to justify the low price by stating that the plot was swampy and located outside a populated area. However, he did not provide a satisfactory explanation for the significant discount his wife received.

Ivashchenko stressed his political neutrality. Yet, it was uncovered that he co-founded the NGO “Institute of Political Crisis” with a former member of parliament. Ivashchenko explained, “I signed the document to help the person (the MP) have a type of public organisation without registration for a certain social status.” Essentially, the attorney claimed to provide only legal assistance for the NGO’s creation but listed himself as a co-founder.

The Ethics Council also raised several questions about Ivashchenko’s failure to declare certain information, to which he mostly replied that he either forgot or made mistakes while entering the data.

More details from the interview with Ivashchenko can be found here.

Olena Zaichko — judge of the District Administrative Court of Kharkiv

Judge Zaichko has been previously reported on for her attempts to secure a position in the High Council of Justice, though she did not succeed.

Slidstvo.Info earlier reported that Zaichko might have requested colleagues to damage a recording of a court hearing to reverse her decision — this is supported by her phone conversations. This prompted the High Council of Justice to open a case against her following our complaint. When questioned by the Ethics Council, Zaichko explained that she had mistakenly printed the operative part of the decision, announcing a denial instead of satisfying the claim.

Judge Zaichko was also implicated in a scheme involving “mass lawsuits”, where multiple identical lawsuits were filed to ensure assignment to a “favourable” judge — allegedly Zaichko. She denies her involvement.

Additionally, Zaichko is connected to arbitrary land development in Kharkiv. She ruled in favour of the construction cooperative “SLICE,” linked to Kharkiv city authorities, for developing a 13-hectare plot under arrest. Shortly after, her minor children received a free apartment of 102.5 square meters from the Kharkiv city authorities.

Watch the interview with Judge Zaichko here.