Public statements of the deputy about a specific criminal case are pressure on the court-Chumak

The Criminal Code prohibits interference in the activities of a judge or a law enforcement officer. Therefore, public statements of people's deputies regarding a particular case can be considered pressure on the court. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive comment to UNN by ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, former Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Chumak.

Details

Earlier , the chairman of the tax committee of the Rada, Daniil Hetmantsev, published several messages in the Telegram channel,in which he called on the public to put pressure on the court and openly criticized the judges ' decisions. Judge of the Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv Vitaliy Tsiktich appealed to the High Council of justice and the Office of the prosecutor general with a statement about pressure from Getmantsev and attempts by the MP to influence the court's decision and interfere in its activities. After that, Hetmantsev published another message in which criticized the decision of the panel of judges of the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court. They admitted that the National Bank made an illegal decision to revoke the license and start liquidating Concord bank. Probably in this way Hetmantsev wanted to influence the judges who will consider the NBU's appeal.

"There is an article of the criminal code that provides for interference in the activities of a judge or a law enforcement officer. And the situation is such that these public appeals are very difficult to transform into any criminal proceedings or public statements of Deputies (to transform into criminal proceedings – ED.). But in any case, this is pressure," Chumak said.

According to him, this pressure on the judge in the future may be transformed into an appeal to the European Court of human rights.

"Actually, this is a matter of a moral and ethical nature. We have a division of the branches of government in formal legal terms and, of course, it is unacceptable to put pressure on judges," Chumak said.

He added that pressure on a judge in a particular case is unacceptable neither  in criminal, nor in civil law, nor  in economic proceedings. At the same time, according to Chumak, coverage of the lifestyle of a judge or his relatives is acceptable.

"Therefore, it is necessary to look at specific appeals, if it is about a specific case – this is unacceptable, and if they say that the judge is such and such a bad person, because he once made decisions that can reasonably be recognized as motivated by someone or something, this is normal," Chumak said.

Recall

Earlier, the president of the All-Ukrainian Association of judges, retired Denys Nevyadomsky, noted that Hetmantsev's appeals violate  the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The MP, according to him, in particular calls for interference in the activities of the court, and also violates the presumption of innocence.

Lawyer Dmitry Kasyanenko noted that Getmantsev's message can be regarded as pressure on the judge and influence on his decision. Lawyer Serhiy Lysenko believes that Hetmantsev is trying to influence the court through social networks through public opinion and assumes the role of a judge determining which decision of Themis Buda is legal in criminal proceedings on illegal tobacco.