The Court of Appeal acquitted Judge Svetlana Kushnir, who during the Maidan threw two random citizens into pre-trial detention for “mass riots.” In 2024, Kushnir resigned and receives a lifetime salary from the pockets of Ukrainians.
The Kiev Court of Appeal on Monday, October 28, confirmed the acquittal of Maidan judge Svetlana Kushnir, who, during the Revolution of Dignity, sent two random men into custody in a pre-trial detention center for “mass riots” because they were transporting tires. The publication Watchers writes about this.
In January 2014, Kushnir, without any evidence, arrested Dmitry Yurchenko and Mikhail Ovsienko, who had previously been stopped by employees of the then traffic police in the center of Kyiv. Then they were accused of allegedly participating in so-called “mass riots” as part of the systemic persecution of protesters by law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement officers found tires in their cars, which the men were transporting for their own needs.
After Maidan, investigators investigated Judge Kushnir under the article on making unfair decisions. And then he changed the charges to illegal detentions, arrests and detention of innocent persons. However, the court of first instance, and now the court of appeal, decided that her actions did not constitute a criminal offense.
It is noteworthy that Judge Kushnir, in her own declaration of integrity, indicated that she did not make decisions regarding the Maidan activists.
First verdict - after 8 years of consideration
The indictment in this case was received by the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky court back in 2015. Only in 2023, 8 years later, did the court sentence Svetlana Kushnir. Truth is exculpatory. Although the prosecutor's office asked to impose a sentence of 3 years in prison. The representative of the victims, Oksana Mikhalevich, supported this position.
The court of first instance, represented by Judge Miroslav Omelchenko, wrote in the verdict: the prosecution has not proven that Kushnir’s actions constitute a criminal offense.
Regarding the arrest records and petitions for detention, which the judge considered when deciding to arrest citizens for transporting tires, the verdict states: “These procedural decisions are not evidence within the meaning of Article 86 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine, they do not contain information on the basis of which it is established the presence or absence of facts and circumstances relevant to criminal proceedings.”
The prosecutor's office filed a complaint in Kyiv's appeal against this verdict. The demand was to cancel the verdict and send the case for a new trial to the court of first instance. The representative of the victims had the same demands.
On October 28, the Kyiv appeal, composed of judges Valentin Shrol, Ivan Mosendz and Tatyana Tyutyun, decided to partially satisfy the appeals. However, having deleted some statements from the justification section from the first instance verdict, in essence the decision remained the same - the verdict was not guilty.
“The sentence regarding Svetlana Kushnir will be changed. To exclude from the verdict the court’s conclusions about the insignificance of Kushnir’s report of suspicion of committing a criminal offense under Art. 375 of the Criminal Code, about the unlawful change of charges against Kushnir during the trial from Art. 375 of the Criminal Code to Art. 371 of the Criminal Code. The rest of the sentence remains unchanged,” the judges ruled.
Prosecutor Julia Malasic noted after the hearing that she would file a cassation appeal.
Arrest for tires
On January 24, 2014, traffic police stopped two cars with men who were now victims in the case. Mikhail Ovsienko was transporting 7 rubber tires for trucks. And Dmitry Yurchenko - 18 rubber tires. At that time, tires were used on the Maidan to support lines of fires, which protesters used to fence themselves off from security forces. Yurchenko and Ovsienko, detained by the police, had nothing to do with the protests, but were carrying this luggage for their own needs.
However, both were invited to the police station, ostensibly to draw up administrative protocols. In fact, the men were detained, reported on suspicion of alleged “mass riots,” and then tried. They remained under arrest until February 12th.
Kyiv's appeal at that time confirmed the legality of this decision. And only after the Maidan victory was the arrest of Yurchenko and Ovsienko declared illegal.
Other participants in the “scheme” to arrest Yurchenko and Ovsienko
The investigators of that time included information in the arrest reports allegedly that the victims were now detained at the crime scene. They say the men organized a crowd of protesters and transported tires for the needs of the protest. One of the prosecutors filed a petition with the court to arrest the men.
By the way, the case against these investigators and the prosecutor is now being heard by the Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv. There were previously four defendants in the case - investigators and prosecutors - Bogdan Bondyuk, Vyacheslav Goncharenko, Alexander Borisenko and Andrey Uzdemir. However, this year the court released former investigator Bogdan Bondyuk from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
The case against prosecutor Alexander Bevz, who coordinated the suspicions against Ovsienko and Yurchenko, is being considered by the Solomensky District Court of Kyiv. However, Bevz escaped and is hiding in Belarus.
The charges were changed due to the decision of the Constitutional Court
Initially, the prosecutor's office accused Svetlana Kushnir, judge of the Solomensky District Court of Kyiv, of making deliberately unfair decisions against activists.
However, in June 2020, the Constitutional Court prohibited punishing judges under the article on deliberately unjust decisions. In this regard, the prosecutor's office changed the charge in this case. After the change, the judge was charged with illegal detentions, arrests and detention of innocent persons.
Now - on lifelong taxpayer support
Svetlana Kushnir worked as a judge in the Solomensky District Court of the capital all the time after the events of Maidan. And in March 2024 she resigned. According to the VSP Act, her experience was enough for this.
Now, based on the Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and Status of Judges,” she will receive a lifetime allowance.
Moreover, according to Article 142 of this law, such maintenance is paid regardless of whether the judge works after retirement and whether he receives any other earnings or income. The annual salary is paid by the Pension Fund from the state budget of Ukraine. Its amount is 50% of the judge's remuneration before retirement, and increases by 2% for each year beyond 20 years of service. In the case of Judge Kushnir, this is more than almost +10%. She also retains her lifelong status as a judge and guarantees of immunity.
According to Kushnir’s latest declaration, her last year’s salary amounted to almost 1 million 700 thousand UAH, therefore Ukrainians will now pay her approximately 70 thousand UAH per month for life.
