Babenko case: Court repeals amicable agreement on alienation of Cherkasy court premises

The Kyiv Economic Court of Appeal repealed the amicable agreement on the alienation of the premises of the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy region, alienated in favor of LLC “CherkassyzhelezobetonStroi” construction company.

This is reported by the Human Rights Information Centre correspondent.

“To settle the claim of the deputy prosecutor of Cherkasy region against the decision of the Economic Court of Cherkasy region of January 28, 2015. To repeal completely the ruling of the Economic Court of Cherkasy Region. To return the case materials to the Economic Court of Cherkasy region for consideration on the merits,” judge Halyna Zhuk stated.

Earlier, the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy region resorted to the economic court with the demand to recover damages from the LLC “CherkassyzhelezobetonStroi” due to improper performance of the contract agreement on the reconstruction of the court’s premises. The company was paid UAH 4.9 million for the works.

The constructors claimed they had no means to cover damages. After that, the parties agreed to give the company the right to own the court’s premises, which had been nearly completed. Meanwhile, the LLC “CherkassyzhelezobetonStroi” had to perform the works in other premises worth UAH 5.030,050 at the address 29, Frunze Street.

“The paragraph 6 of the amicable agreement recognizes the right of ownership of the LLC “CherkassyzhelezobetonStroi” to the unfinished construction site with a total area of 3,616 square meters on 300, Hohol Street. However, this building is the property of the territorial community, that’s why the premises should be alienated under the relevant procedure adopted by the legislation on privatization of the state property,” the representative of the prosecutor’s office of Cherkasy region said at the court hearing.

At the hearing, representative of the Cherkasy City Council Oleh Luhovskoi stated that the members of the council had not adopted any decision on this regard.

“We believe that if the amicable agreement was signed, the Cherkasy City Council must have been the party to it, which was supposed to give consent to the management of property of the Cherkasy community. Such consent was not given,” Oleh Luhovskoi said.

The representatives of the Court of Appeal and the LLC “CherkassyzhelezobetonStroi” were not present at the court hearing. According to the judge, the parties were aware of the time and date of the hearing.

The amicable agreement was concluded at the time when Volodymyr Babenko was the head of the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy Region.

As a reminder, in April 2015, judge of the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy region Serhiy Bondarenko stated that Volodymyr Babenko had 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.

According to Automaidan’s lawyer Roman Maselko, head of the Court Volodymyr Babenko is also involved in the notorious case over arrests of the Cherkasy Euromaidan activists.

As reported, the Transparency International non-governmental organization calls on the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, and the Council of Judges of Ukraine to deal with the situation regarding the Court of Appeal of Cherkasy region.