The High Council of Justice has appointed a rapporteur on the complaint filed by prosecutor Viktoria Orshavska against the Supreme Court judges who considered the cassation in the case of former MP Oleksandr Shepelev, who was accused of bribery to escape from custody and is facing other cases of treason, contract killings and other crimes. According to the report on the automatic distribution of complaints, it was Olena Kovbiy, UNN reports.
The HCJ press service previously reported that Kovbiy volunteered for the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. At first, she participated in the fight of a Russian company in the area of Bakhmut. In January of this year, Kovbiy was elected a member of the High Council of Justice. "Being a member of the HCJ is a responsibility to society, to my colleagues who entrusted me with this position, and to myself. I am used to being where I think I am most needed. In February 2022, it was the army, now it is the High Council of Justice," she said.At the time of her election to the HCJ, Olena Kovbiy was the acting assistant commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine's TRO battalion for legal work. As a sitting judge, she was on a temporary business trip, as provided for by Ukrainian law.As a result, an atypical situation arose in relation to Olena Kovbiy, as the act on her secondment was never received by the High Council of Justice. Accordingly, she was not enrolled in the HCJ staff and did not receive a salary. In addition, Kovbiy was actually combining the positions of judge, HCJ member, and military servicewoman. This is a unique case in the history of Ukrainian justice.At the same time, Olena Kovbiy participated in HCJ meetings and voted when the High Council of Justice made decisions.In March of this year, Kovbiy returned to the front.Earlier, we reportedthat prosecutor Victoria Orshavska filed a complaint with the HCJ against Supreme Court judges Korol V.V., Marynych V.K. and Markovets A.M., who considered the cassation in Shepelev's case and on July 6, 2023, changed the verdict of the courts of previous instances.In particular, the Supreme Court panel decided to close one of the episodes of the case, which concerned bribery, due to, in their opinion, insufficient evidence.In addition, the judges significantly reduced Shepelev's sentence, counting the period of his stay in the Russian pre-trial detention center from March 19, 2015 to July 8, 2016. At that time, Russian law enforcement officers detained him following an extradition request from Ukraine. While the issue of his extradition to Ukraine was allegedly being resolved, Shepelev actively cooperated with the Russian Federal Security Service and was supposed to be held in a pre-trial detention center. A year later, Russia still refused to extradite the fugitive MP to Ukrainian justice, citing threats to its own national security.The Supreme Court panel also took advantage of the Savchenko law and counted Shepeleva's time in the pre-trial detention center on charges in other cases as part of his sentence.Thus, according to the decision of the cassation instance, Shepelev has fully served his sentence under the verdict of the Desnianskyi District Court of Kyiv of August 7, 2020. In addition, due to the closure of the bribery cases, the former MP's property will not be confiscated.As a reminder, Shepelev was detained in 2014 in the case of the murder of four people and the attempted murder of banker Serhiy Dyadechko. However, the former MP managed to escape from custody through a "hospital scheme". For four years, he was hiding in Russia and was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement only in 2018.In addition to the case of ordering the murders of five people, Ukrainian courts are also considering cases on charges of treason and embezzlement of Rodovid Bank funds.