The Peresypsky District Court of Odessa has reprimanded its judge Andriy Lupenko and deprived him of his allowance for one month for systematic violations of the law when considering cases of drunk driving. The complaint against the judge was filed by lawyers who found numerous violations in his decisions.
According to the case materials, Lupenko often did not apply mandatory driver's license suspensions, citing "mitigating circumstances" and the alleged status of the offenders as military personnel. In fact, only two of the eight cases involved military personnel, the rest involving civilian drivers.
In several cases, the judge took into account questionable characteristics, for example, from a rehabilitation center, presenting them as volunteer testimonials. One driver with a blood alcohol content of 2.13‰ who caused a traffic accident received a lighter sentence due to the alleged "absence of significant consequences."
The Disciplinary Chamber decided that Lupenko's actions violated the law and created a danger on the roads, for which he received a reprimand and a temporary deprivation of allowances. In comparison, Judge Tkachenko from Kryvyi Rih received only a warning for similar violations.
The decision of the High Council of Justice is assessed as an important step in maintaining legality and safety on the roads of Ukraine.
