The judges of the Supreme Court elected a new chairman. Stanislav Kravchenko became the head of the Cassation Criminal Court.
This is stated in the official broadcast from the court.
Kravchenko was elected head of the Supreme Court for four years. 108 judges voted for him. Other candidates did not get more than 20 votes.
By virtue of his position, Kravchenko automatically became a member of the High Council of Justice.
Stanislav Kravchenko received his legal education at the National University of Law named after Yaroslav the Wise. He comes from the Chernihiv region, in 1993-2002 he worked in the local Kozeletskyi district court. From 2002 to 2011, Kravchenko worked as a judge of the Kyiv Court of Appeal.
Then he moved to the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for consideration of civil and criminal cases, in 2017 he became a judge of the Criminal Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court. On December 8, 2017, he headed this court, and in 2021 he was re-elected to this position.
In 2017, the Public Integrity Council reported on Kravchenkoʼs non-compliance with integrity criteria due to unreliable declarations and participation in decision-making with human rights violations. There is also information that before the vote, Kravchenko promised judges free apartments in exchange for votes. According to him, the apartments are provided with judicial guarantees, "so we have to fight for them, and I will do it."
The case of the former head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev
On May 15, it became known that Knyazev was caught taking a bribe of almost $3 million. The bribe was connected with decisions in favor of businessman Kostyantyn Zhevago in the case of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. In the Supreme Court, a "back office" was created under the leadership of Vsevolod Knyazev — the bar association helped judges make the right decisions for money.
What did Zhevago want? In 2002, the businessman purchased 40.19% of the shares of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant from four companies. In 2020, the former shareholders wanted to return these shares through the court, but the court refused them. In 2022, the Court of Appeal still declared the contract of sale of shares of the plant invalid. In order to prevent the loss of shares, in early March, Zhevago turned to the "back office" of the Supreme Court. Already on April 19, the Supreme Court made a decision in favor of Zhevago — it recognized that the businessman legally purchased the Poltava plant.
- On May 16, the Supreme Court expressed no confidence in Knyazev and released him, later Knyazev was suspected, and then the court arrested him.
- Earlier, law enforcement officers seized $450 000 from Knyazev at home, and another $597 000 was found in his office. The rest of the money is still being sought.
- Meanwhile, businessman Zhevago rejected all accusations of trying to bribe the Supreme Court and called the "customers". He says that the customers of this case are the former Russian owners of his assets, as well as businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi.