Marina Shakhovnina
From a political point of view, corruption in the courts is one of the most important links in the systemic corruption that we see in Ukraine. The corruption of the courts makes it possible to exert political influence on them and prevent systemic changes in the state.
The public organization Narodnaya Rada appealed to the Lenta.ua editorial office with a request to conduct an investigation into the legality of being the chairman of the court — Judge Marina Olegovna Shakhovnina of the Podolsky District Court of the city of Kyiv, who in 2012, by decree of Viktor Yanukovych, was appointed a judge of the Podolsky District Court of Kyiv. And although her term of office expired back in 2017, she not only extended her work in court, but also in 2021 became… the chairman of this court.
Recall that our journalists visited the current XI Judicial Forum, where they had the opportunity to talk on a painful topic for the public with the Chairman of the Council of Judges of Ukraine — Bogdan Monich, who, when asked about the illegitimate chairman of the Podolsky District Court Shakhovnin, answered:
“Only the Supreme Council of Justice can influence this. But after our conversation with you, I will deal with this issue more, I, unfortunately, do not have such powers. Probably, it is worth paying the attention of the judges of the Supreme Council to this issue,” Monich confidently answered. On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”, according to which the Council of Judges of Ukraine exercises control over the organization of the activities of courts and monitors compliance with the requirements of the legislation on the settlement of conflicts of interest in the activities of judges!
Almost a month has passed since our conversation, the public worked on the fairness of this case.
Each of the judges of the Podolsk District Court was sent a letter from the Public Organization “Narodnaya Rada”, which clearly indicates the violations that the judges committed when they elected Shakhovnina to the post. We are talking about Article 20 of the Law of Ukraine “On the judiciary and the status of judges”. The procedure for electing judges to administrative positions and dismissing them from these positions.
Despite the fact that the High Council of Justice and the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption have not yet given their assessment of the situation with the election of Shakhovnina M.A. as the chairwoman of the court, public outcry in the legal community has already acquired the position of the Chairman of the Council of Judges of Ukraine Monich B.S. on the illegality of the tenure of the head of the Podolsky District Court of Kiev, Shakhovnina N.A. initiative!
Extension of the tenure of the chairman of the court Shakhovnina N.A. exacerbates the negative consequences for the authority of the judiciary, casts doubt on the signed Shakhovnina M.A. as the chairman of the court of documents, orders and leads to significant damage to state and public interests.
We decided to call the judges who elected Ms. Shakhovnina to the post and ask how they managed to circumvent the law, and whether they received a letter from public?
The call was made to the following people:
Yakimets Oksana Igorevna, Kitov Alexander Vasilievich, Rybalka Yuri Vladimirovich, Budzan Lesya Dmitrievna, Grebenyuk Vladimir Vladimirovich, Leshchenko Elena Vasilievna, Larionova Natalya Nikolaevna, Zakharchuk Svetlana Stepanovna, Anokhin Andrey Nikolaevich.
A constructive dialogue did not work out with any of the judges: everyone either hung up as soon as they heard journalists were calling, or did not pick it up at all. Probably, there is something to hide from the public and journalists, because, without listening to the question, immediately hanging up is no less impolite, and even more so for people like judges.
From the sources of the editorial board, it became known that during the meeting of judges for the election of Shakhovnina N.A. chairwoman of the Podolsky district court, she did not inform the staff of this court that she could not be elected, but even run for an administrative position due to the fact that her powers as a judge had ended, which, in turn, prohibits to be elected chairman or deputy of the court. Also Marina Shakhovnina. she put forward her candidacy herself and only 8 votes were enough for her to hold the post of chairman of the Podolsky district court! In addition, it is not known who exactly voted for Shakhovnina M.A. and at the same time violated the editorial law, since the voting is secret. Perhaps this is a question for law enforcement agencies!
So, from the above, we understand that Mr. Monich still has the authority to take such actions, and yet the Council of Judges, and no one else, should initiate this case. By the way, we did not receive an answer from Mr. Monich, either to this letter or to the previous ones…
And Ms. Marina Shakhovnina herself, which is not surprising, did not get in touch and did not responded to the messages of our journalists.
There is only one conclusion here, Ms. Marina Shakhovnina should either herself resign from the post of chairman of the Podolsky District Court of the city of Kyiv due to the illegality of her tenure or she should be dismissed by the judges of this court by decision of the Council judges of Ukraine and new elections of the chairman of the Podolsky District Court of Kyiv were announced, initiated by the NGO “Narodnaya Rada”, which was indicated in the letters sent personally to each judge of this court.
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