The Supreme Court reinstates Vovk’s ally Mazur to the bench
The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court has overturned the decision to dismiss Alyona Mazur from her position as judge. Mazur is a judge of the infamous Kyiv District Administrative Court (DACK) who:
- sabotaged the qualification assessment at Vovk’s direction, which is why the High Council of Justice dismissed her;
- helped Vovk take control of the High Qualification Commission of Judges;
- sat on the panel of judges that granted the Surkis brothers’ claim and ordered the seizure of over one billion hryvnias from the nationalised PrivatBank;
- overturned negative conclusions of the Public Integrity Council, which are not subject to judicial appeal;
- privatised a two-room official apartment in an upscale new development in Pechersk.
The Supreme Court judges reinstated Mazur on the very same day the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 13165-2, which reduced the review of judges’ integrity declarations to a formality.
And all of this, one week before the Supreme Court hearing on the reinstatement of Pavlo Vovk, the former head of the infamous DACK.
This timing is hard to call coincidental: instead of sending a clear signal of accountability, the judicial system and parliament are simultaneously signalling the opposite.
In other words, on the eve of a key ruling concerning the head of DACK, the Supreme Court is effectively demonstrating that even the most toxic cases from DACK end in amnesty.
