Head of Cherkasy court suggests that a judge, whom he exerted pressure on, apologizes

At the meeting of judges of the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy region, Head of the Court Volodymyr Babenko said he had experienced pressure and threats from judge of the court Serhiy Bondarenko and Automaidan lawyer Roman Maselko.

Roman Maselko, who is also lawyer of judge Serhiy Bondarenko, posted this on Facebook.

“Now I understand why Babenko was attempted in his village. It is a serious offense, which allows investigating with the use of undercover activities. So I won’t be surprised if I will soon be detained on charges of attempted murder of a judge. However, I and Automaidan activists talked with Babenko only once, on March 31, 2015 in his office in the presence of many journalists and cameras. That is, it’s obvious lie, which won’t be left without attention. This again speaks volumes about the moral qualities of Babenko and about how far he is willing to go trying to evade liability,” says Roman Maselko, describing the case of the assassination attempt on the head of the court as the response to criminal proceedings.

At the meeting of judges, held on July 31 on the recommendation of the Council of Judges of Ukraine to settle the conflict, Volodymyr Babenko suggested that judge Serhiy Bondarenko would withdraw his statements about the crime and apologize to the Head of the Court. In response, Roman Maselko writes, Volodymyr Babenko promised to withdraw the complaint about pressure on him.

“I did not believe it at first. This suggestion is the height of cynicism, arrogance and legal ignorance. I do not comment on demand that Bondarenko should apologize (it’s disgusting). I draw your attention to another fact: the Head of the Court of Appeal considers criminal cases over felonies as element of bargaining. He is confident that everything can be negotiated and he does not care about the law and the authority of the court. After all, it’s not the case of Bondarenko and Babenko, it’s the case where the victim is the entire society that wants real justice, not rigged cases. However, Babenko does not understand this and just wants to negotiate,” Roman Maselko is sure.

At the meeting of the judges, Volodymyr Babenko said there was a request of the parliamentary committee concerning the grounds for the decision of the Council of Judges in this case. As a reminder, the Council of Judges decided that “the actions of the Head of the Court bear signs of encroachment on the independence of the judiciary and the signs of violation of the rules of judicial ethics.”

“Allegedly, the Council of Judges had no right to make this decision, and the whole of the parliamentary committee supports Babenko in this issue. According to Babenko, the Council of Judges made that decision exclusively under pressure of Automaidan. By the way, the meeting of the Council of Judges was attended by me alone, and therefore, Babenko believed that I had scared more than 30 judges,” Roman Maselko writes.

The Automaidan lawyer is meanwhile surprised at reaction of 40 judges of this court.

“No one has pointed out the need to complete the investigation and to establish the truth. Nobody said that the person accused of certain actions could not obtain the post of the Head of the Court, at least during the investigation, and should resign. No one said there was a need to contribute to the investigation into these crimes with all possible means,” Roman Maselko says, doubting that these judges meet “high status of a judge.”

According to Roman Maselko, he lost hope for the possibility of self-cleansing of the judiciary, “My belief in the ability of judges to change on their own died finally. The authority of the judges has struck bottom and is steadily gaining minus values. The judges have even forgotten what dignity and elementary morality mean. They have once again proven that they organically do not accept those who are fighting for fair decisions and resist pressure. I feel embarrassed. It’s disgusting.”

As a reminder, judge Serhiy Bondarenko stated that Volodymyr Babenko asked him making unjust judgments in certain cases. After Bondarenko had refused, he was subjected to systematic pressure and threats by Babenko and disorganization of work. So, the judge was deprived of assistant, his memoranda and statements were not registered, and he was made violate the law for trial participants to complain about the judge to the High Qualification Commission of Judges. Bondarenko’s car was set on fire, and unknown persons were waiting for him near his apartment. The judge is still working without an assistant.

The expert examination of the Interior Ministry recognizes that the voice on the recording, which threatens judge the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy region Serhiy Bondarenko, belongs to Head of the Court Volodymyr Babenko. In June, Serhiy Bondarenko underwent psychophysiological veracity examination using the polygraph. Then, the judge confirmed that Volodymyr Babenko had asked to make illegal judgment in the case of “Azot” against teacher Oksana Yashan. He also confirmed the fact that the Head of the Court had threatened him. Serhiy Bondarenko also denied that he had changed audio file of conversation with the Head of the Court, or had asked others to make changes to the audio file.

In March, the Oleksandrivka District Court repealed the decision of the prosecutor’s office of Cherkasy region on closure of the criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 376 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (interference with the court). The judge came to the conclusion that investigator Vyacheslav Zhykharev did not conduct full-fledged investigation. A month later, Vyacheslav Zhykharev was appointed as senior investigator of the department of the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate the criminal offenses committed by the judges. As known, Head of the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy region Volodymyr Babenko is a person involved in criminal proceedings over exerting pressure on the judges who made judgments to arrest Euromaidan activists in Cherkasy.

July 9, 2015, Volodymyr Babenko announced that he had found an explosive device in his car. A grenade, seemed to be F-1, was attached to the underside of his Toyota car under the engine compartment. The law enforcers initiated a criminal proceeding.