The High Council of Justice did NOT suspend Judge Ilyeva, who is suspected of abuse of power

On April 4, the High Council of Justice rejected the request of the head of the SAPO to temporarily suspend the judge of the Pechersk District Court, Tetyana Ilyeva, from the administration of justice. 14 out of 17 HCJ members voted against the suspension. This decision is a bad signal that corrupt judges will interpret in their favour.

The text of the decision is not available on the HCJ website at the time of publication of this news, so DEJURE Foundation cannot assess the motivation of the HCJ members. However, it is noteworthy that the rapporteur, Oleh Kandzyuba, proposed to satisfy the request.

Last week, NABU and SAP notified Ilyeva about the suspicion of abuse of power and putting knowingly false information in an official document. According to the investigation, the judge illegally removed the arrest of 110.7 thousand euros and 9.3 thousand dollars of the former vice president of the state company “Khlib Ukrainy” Andrii Mykhaniv.

Then the SAPO prepared a pleading to the High Council of Justice for the temporary suspension of judge Ilyeva from performing her duties. And today, after considering this pleading, the majority of members of the HCJ decided that a judge who has received notification of suspicion can continue administering justice.

Among all the positive developments, we consider this decision of the HCJ to be a serious step back towards the model of the previous HCJ. Here’s how similar activities of their predecessors ended.