Zelensky appoints Judge Kytsiuk, who persecuted participants of the Revolution of Dignity, for an indefinite term

The President has appointed Viktor Kytsiuk as a judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv for an indefinite term. Kytsiuk was an instrument of Yanukovych’s punitive system.

During the Revolution of Dignity, Pechersk court judges Viktor Kytsiuk and Oksana Tsarevych stripped participants of the motorcade to Mezhyhiria of their driving licenses on the basis of falsified traffic police materials. In particular, Kytsiuk stripped people of their driving licenses for six months on six occasions. And Kytsiuk’s sister changed the case allocation settings so that these cases would go specifically to Kytsiuk and Tsarevych.

After Yanukovych fled, lists of cars that had been spotted at protest rallies were found in his residence. The Administration of the fugitive President instructed that reports be drawn up against the owners of these cars and, through court presidents, instructed judges to strip these individuals of their driving licenses.

After the events of the Maidan, Kytsiuk faced up to 8 years in prison, but the prosecutor’s office blatantly sabotaged his case. And the Constitutional Court abolished criminal liability for knowingly unjust decisions.

Kytsiuk was supposed to be stripped of his judicial robe back in 2017, but the Supreme Court saved him. Now Zelensky is returning Kytsiuk to decision-making along with other Maidan judges: Olena Izovitova-Vakim, Taras Zaiets, and Maryna Lozynska. There can be no doubt that Kytsiuk will be just as obedient to the authorities as he was under Yanukovych.

In 2025, the High Qualifications Commission of Judges (HQCJ) could have put an end to the careers of Kytsiuk, Tsarevych, and several other scandalous judges of the Pechersk court. But as soon as the HQCJ scheduled the assessment of these judges, the Zelensky-controlled State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) came with searches to the Commission and to its Deputy Chair, Oleksii Omelian, on blatantly contrived grounds. Omelian, incidentally, is the rapporteur in the cases of Kytsiuk and Tsarevych.

A quid pro quo took place: the SBI shields the Pechersk judges from assessment, and they in turn allow the SBI to conduct searches and put whoever it needs behind bars.

Since the SBI’s intervention, the assessment of the Pechersk court judges has not moved a single step. HQCJ members simply lack resolve. And the Pechersk court retains its untouchable status.

As a result, scandalous judges who should have been dismissed ten years ago are returning to their posts and will be entirely obedient to Bankova.