Judge’s son vetted by the Council was left as a candidate for the Supreme Court

The High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ) overcame the veto of the Public Integrity Council (PIC) on the election of Oleksiy Bryntsev, son of former judge of the Constitutional Court, to the new Supreme Court. 11 members of the HQCJ voted out of the required 10.

As reported by the Ukrayinska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth), this was stated by Sergii Kiziakov, Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges,   on June 6 at a meeting of the Commission.

Oleksiy Bryntsev is the son of Vasily Bryntsev, former judge of the Constitutional Court, and works as the Deputy Chairman of the Economic Court of Kharkiv region.

The Public Integrity Council vetoed the election of Bryntsev Jr. as the judge of the Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court, justifying the decision with the fact that he has a large number of unjustified incomes n his declarations, that he had repeatedly visited Russia since 2014, and that he had not indicated that his sister works at the Prosecutor’s Office.

In tur, as stated by Bryntsev at the meeting of the HQCJ, his incomes are legal, his sister is on paid leave after childbirth, and he has not contacted her in official matters, and visited Russia exclusively for humanitarian purposes.

Members of the HQCJ decided to support the candidate and had overcome the veto of the Public Integrity Council. Thus, the Commission recognized that the candidate meets the criteria of integrity and professionalism.

According to the data provided by Chesno (Honestly) movement, income of the Oleksiy Bryntsev’s family amounted to 1 million 23 thousand 474 UAH in 2015. In addition, the judge and his wife have cash in the amount of 950 thousand hryvnias (including euros).

Vasily Bryntsev is on the black list of persons who are prohibited from entering the countries of Europe and the United States. He was one of the judges of the Constitutional Court, who in 2010 supported the abolition of the Constitution of 2004, which granted the former president Viktor Yanukovych additional powers. Bryntsev Sr. resigned as a judge of the Constitutional Court in 2015.

In addition, on June 6, the HQCJ overcame the veto of the Public Integrity Council on election of Volodymyr Aleynikov to the new Supreme Court, but supported a veto against Serhiy Bondar.

The Public Integrity Council motivated the veto against the election of Volodymyr Aleynikov, Judge of the Central District Court of Mykolaiv, to the new Supreme Court by the fact that the judge, while considering the case on charges of corruption of former deputy of the city council of Mykolaiv Serhiy Polyansky, prohibited journalists and activists from video and audio recording of the trial, including portable dictaphones.

In addition, judge made a number of incorrect statements to the media.

At the same time, the Commission supported a veto against the election of Serhiy Bondar, Judge of the Supreme Economic Court, to the new Supreme Court. The veto is imposed for the fact that members of judge’s family received an inexplicably large income and a lot of supposedly inherited property in the recent years.

In addition, public officials argue that the decision of the panel of judges with Bondar as a member led to the illegal alienation of the communal building in Cherkasy.

Kiziakov reported that the HQCJ recognized Bondar as “such who did not confirm the ability to administer justice within the Cassation Economic Court as part of the Supreme Court”. Therefore, the Judge of the Supreme Economic Court ceases his participation in the competition.

As a reminder, on June 6, the HQCJ started considering the candidates, who were vetoed by the Public Integrity Council, for the position of judges of the new Supreme Court.

Earlier, the Public Integrity Council vetoed against the election of 103 out of 382 candidates to the positions of 120 Supreme Court judges, believing that they do not meet the criteria of integrity and professional ethics.