According to the police, in the city of Uman, Cherkasy region, a criminal boss and an assistant tried to “remove” a judge. On March 19, they were detained with grenades and a pistol, the Court Reporter notes.
Both suspects are now in custody. One of them, whom investigators call the organizer, is considered to be “watching the area.” He denies any contact with the alleged perpetrator. As for the judge who was supposed to be attacked, his activities also raise questions.
The actions are being investigated as attempted murder by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (part 1 of article 14, clause 12, part 2 of article 115 of the Criminal Code) and illegal handling of weapons and explosives (part 1 of article 263 of the Criminal Code).
The police are considering the professional activities of the victim as the motive for the crime. But for some reason the detainees were not charged under Article 379 of the Criminal Code regarding the attempt on the life of a judge.
Connections in the underworld
Described by the police as “watching” Uman and, in fact, according to their version, the organizer of the crime is Igor Sushkov. He is a native of Uman. According to the police, he was previously convicted of extortion and robbery, but his convictions were expunged and details of these cases could not be found in the public domain.
On December 10, 2018, for some reason, police officers visited the apartment where Sushkov lived and discovered that he was storing a hunting rifle without a safe and not at the place of registration. The next day, at a meeting of the Uman City District Court, the man explained that he had a permit for a gun, but his registration address was undergoing renovations and he temporarily moved, taking the gun, but could not take the safe. The court fined Sushkov 119 hryvnia and returned the gun to him.
A year ago, in Uman, police detained men who demanded 40 thousand dollars in debt. Then they allegedly acted “under the roof” of Sushkov. It is not clear from the police reports whether the “supervisor” was personally detained at that time.
In the materials of the pre-trial investigation, Sushkov is characterized as “a person without a specific occupation” who has leadership qualities and connections in the criminal world and leads an antisocial lifestyle. According to investigators, it was he who intended to kill the judge and brought in a certain Bogdan Kozak for this purpose.
Sushkov allegedly met with Kozak several times to discuss the plan for the future murder: time, place, method. The meetings also took place in a Porsche Cayenne, in which the suspects allegedly followed the judge during March 2024, finding out his place of work, daily routine, routes and places where he is most often found.
The police reported that weapons were seized from the defendants, including a pistol and a silencer, grenades, bats, brass knuckles, clothes, 4 kilograms of cannabis, promissory notes from local residents for about 50 thousand dollars, almost 4 thousand packs of cigarettes and the like.
When choosing a preventive measure, the prosecutor also referred to the testimony of the injured judge and the protocols of covert investigative actions. That is, there are some recordings of conversations between the defendants that may relate to the crime.
The investigator explained in court that the suspects discussed the method of committing the crime. In particular, Sushkov allegedly gave advice and told what to do after the murder: how to get rid of clothes, where it is better to run, how to go unnoticed.
In court, Sushkov stated that he had no contact with Kozak at all. He said that the grenades were planted on him when the car was at the car wash and service station. He didn’t buy the gun and doesn’t know where he got it. He has his own, for which there is official permission.
Kozak also did not admit guilt and explained to the court that on the day of his arrest he was dealing with personal affairs. According to the defender, he runs a business and supports a child born in 2024.
The suspects in this case are defended by Cherkassy lawyer Gleb Sidorov. This is a former employee of the Cherkassy prosecutor's office. In 2014, activists included him as a prosecutor on the lustration list. In the 2019 presidential elections, Sidorov represented Zelensky on the election commission in the 196th district. In 2020, he ran for the Cherkasy City Council from Servant of the People.
The victim is a judge without authority
According to investigators, an assassination attempt was being prepared against the judge of the Uman City District Court of the Cherkasy Region, Vasily Goncharuk.
In 2018, Goncharuk applied for the position of judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court. However, the High Qualification Commission of Judges terminated his participation in the competition. The commission explained its decision, among other things, by numerous cases of interference in the work of the automated case distribution system in 2015, when Goncharuk was acting chairman of the court.
Experts also noted that Goncharuk, as a judge, personally made decisions on cases involving the transfer of ownerless land plots to the state. An interested party in these cases was the Svinarsky village council, the chairman of which at that time was the father of Judge Goncharuk, so the latter would have to recuse himself. Goncharuk was also charged with concealing property - his family lived in an apartment registered to his mother-in-law, and the judge drove a car that belonged to his sister, an employee of the Svinarsky village council.
In 2016, Judge Goncharuk’s 5-year term of office expired and since then he has not made judicial decisions. He has not yet been appointed to the position indefinitely, but it turned out that Goncharuk continues to perform other work in court...
At the end of February this year, the High Council of Justice considered the complaint of lawyer Diana Korkiyainen about violation of incompatibility requirements by Judge Goncharuk.
The complaint referred to Goncharuk’s “underground provision of lawyer’s services during working hours outside of court.” In December 2019, the Bar Council of the Cherkasy Region gave Goncharuk the right to practice law and awarded him a lawyer’s certificate. The website aabastion.com.ua offered the services of lawyer Goncharuk (the page has been deleted today - ed.).
Goncharuk explained that, having received the right to practice law, on the same day he turned to the Bar Council to stop him. The Cherkasy Region Bar Council confirmed that a lawyer’s certificate was not ordered, produced or issued to Goncharuk.
After the end of his five-year term in office, Goncharuk, as it turned out, performed other work in court that was not related to the administration of justice. Citizens Diana Korkiyainen and Oksana Korkiyainen have repeatedly appealed to the Cherkasy District Administrative Court with claims against the Uman City District Court.
During 2022-2023, these lawyers filed up to 28 administrative claims, in 17 of which Goncharuk participated as a representative of the Uman City District Court. He acted on the basis of powers of attorney for the representation of interests issued to him by the acting chairman of the court.
Goncharuk believes that his participation in meetings does not constitute advocacy, but is a representation of the legal entity of which he is an employee. He participated in court hearings to consider these cases, submitted statements, petitions, reviews, objections, appeals, which, according to Goncharuk, was negatively perceived by Korkiyainen’s lawyers and increased their interest in writing complaints against him to various authorities on fictitious and unfounded charges, in order to thus influence him as a representative of the court.
In 2020, Diana Korkianen already contacted the High Council of Justice and asked to check the condition of Judge Goncharuk and his family. The complaint was left without consideration. This time, the High Council of Justice also decided that Goncharuk did not violate the incompatibility requirements.
