The Verkhovna Rada adopted a draft law on the liquidation of the Kyiv District Administrative Court
- Author:
- Anna Kholodnova
- Date:
Фундація DEJURE
The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) voted for draft law No. 5369 on the liquidation of the District Administrative Court of the city of Kyiv (KDAC) and for draft law No. 5370 on the establishment of the Kyiv City District Administrative Court (KCDAC).
The MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported this.
Both documents were adopted as a whole.
310 MPs voted for draft law No. 5369, and draft law No. 5370 received 326 votes.
The following MPs voted for the liquidation of the KDAC: 194 MPs of "Servants of the People", 24 MPs of "European Solidarity", 11 MPs of "Motherland", 20 representatives of "Platform for Life and Peace", 12 MPs of the "For the Future" faction, 13 MPs of the "Voice" and “Restoration of Ukraine”, 14 — from “Trust” and nine non-factional deputies.
Prior to that, the Verkhovna Radaʼs Committee on Legal Policy supported draft laws that provide for the liquidation of the Kyiv District Administrative Court. The members of the committee recommended that the parliament adopt the documents immediately as a whole.
- On April 13, 2021, President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted to the Verkhovna Rada as an urgent draft law on the liquidation of the Kyiv District Administrative Court. Zelensky emphasized that the KDAC was never able to regain trust in itself, and called the proposal itself a signal to any court that "betrayed respect for the law." Instead of the KDAC, the president proposes to form the Kyiv City District Administrative Court.
- On December 9, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions against the head of the Kyiv District Administrative Court Pavlo Vovk, and two of his closest relatives, "for demanding bribes in exchange for interference in judicial and other state processes."
- The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) suspects the head of the District Administrative Court Vovk and other judges of the KDAC — Ablov, Pohribnichenko, Celeberda, Ohurtsov, Kachur and Sanin — of corruption and attempts to seize state power. On July 17, 2020, NABU presented a recording of the conversations between Vovk and the judges of the KDAC, and later new recordings were made public. On the same day, NABU employees searched the court, after which Vovk and his deputy Yevhen Ablov were informed of the suspicion. The case is currently under consideration in court.