Yesterday, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court did not hold a regular hearing in the case of Antimonopoly Committee Chairman Pavlo Kyrylenko, who is accused of illegally enriching himself by over 72 million hryvnias. This is the second case of a trial being disrupted in a row.
This time, the reason was the defense's motion to disqualify the judge. As reported by the Anti-Corruption Center (ACC), the lawyers stated about the alleged violation of the principle of automated distribution of judges. An additional argument was the fact that the judge's husband works at the state-owned company Ukrenergo, which is being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission. At the same time, the defense could not explain how an ordinary employee of the company could influence the court's decision.
This is the second consecutive hearing that has not taken place: the previous one was disrupted by the failure of Kyrylenko's lawyer to appear. Such behavior raises serious suspicions of attempts to deliberately delay the process.
Today is a special date - on August 5, all procedural obligations previously imposed on the suspect by the Supreme Court of Ukraine expire. In particular, these include:
-
restrictions on the right to travel abroad;
-
prohibition of contact with witnesses;
-
obligation to surrender foreign passports.
If the court does not have time to consider the challenge and hold a hearing by the end of the day, Pavlo Kyrylenko will effectively be left without any legal restrictions. This creates a threat of pressure on witnesses, the possibility of fleeing the country, or evading investigative actions.
Human rights activists have repeatedly emphasized that similar legal manipulations — delays, no-shows, recusals — are often used in cases involving top officials to avoid accountability. The Kyrylenko case is yet another example of such practices that undermine trust in the anti-corruption justice system.
