How Did the Week Go for the High Council of Justice? May 12–16, 2025
This week (May 12–16), the disciplinary chambers of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) resolved very few cases on the merits. This appears to be due either to disciplinary inspectors failing to prepare opinions within the legally established deadlines or to the chambers focusing mainly on dismissing complaints without review or refusing to open cases. Nonetheless, a few substantive decisions were made:
Valentyn Tomylko – Judge of the Poltava Court of Appeal
Issued a warning following a complaint by DEJURE Foundation lawyer Marta Bereza.
Case background: Tomylko dismissed a drunk driving case, citing insignificance of the offense and referring to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. While the HCJ typically applies a warning in such cases, it’s worth noting that many of these violations have a corruption component. A more egregious example is Judge Oleh Ivinskyi, who has closed over 40 DUI cases — DEJURE Foundation is filing its third complaint against him. The HCJ must take note of the alarming scale of such instances.
Previously, a disciplinary chamber had already recommended Tomylko’s dismissal for attempting to unlawfully influence another judge to help his son avoid liability for drunk driving. The final decision must be made by the HCJ plenary, which is currently impossible due to the lack of a quorum.
Nataliia Timoshenko – Judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Poltava
A disciplinary case was opened following a complaint by DEJURE Foundation lawyer Marta Bereza.
Case background: Timoshenko allegedly issued fictitious rulings to assign a child’s place of residence with the father, possibly to help him avoid mobilisation. The judge processed these cases extremely quickly, failed to examine the facts, did not involve the child welfare authority, and ignored the child’s opinion. A fair punishment is expected. Meanwhile, a complaint remains stalled at the HCJ against Judge Yuliia Shevchuk (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi District Court, Odesa Oblast), where NABU and SAP uncovered a criminal group aiding draft dodgers.
Alla Chuvanova – Judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Poltava
A warning was issued.
Case background: Judge Chuvanova recused herself from considering motions in a criminal case against former Poltava mayor Oleksandr Mamai, who is suspected of disclosing the location of Ukrainian Armed Forces positions during martial law (Art. 114-2(2) of the Criminal Code). The Security Service of Ukraine filed a complaint against her. The disciplinary chamber found that Chuvanova violated procedure by reviewing her own recusal. HCJ member Serhii Burlakov voted against holding her accountable and even pushed for a recess in the case.
A serious problem currently affects the HCJ: it cannot consider appeals against disciplinary chamber rulings, including dismissal decisions, because the Council lacks a quorum. As a result, final decisions regarding judges such as Yevhen Ablov, Valentyn Tomylko, and Dariia Sakun remain pending indefinitely. We hope that the upcoming Congress of Judges will resolve this by appointing two new HCJ members. A separate competition for appointments under the President’s quota is also ongoing.
