The judge who presided over the high-profile case of and sentenced ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years in prison on Oct. 11, 2011 was recently promoted to acting deputy head of the Pechersk District Court.
Judge Rodion Kirieyev, 32, was
appointed to the position
on Feb. 14, the office of Inna Otrosh who heads the
Pechersk District Court, told the Kyiv Post.
Kirieyev replaces Andriy Melnyk who on
Jan. 29 sentenced Oleksiy Pukach, a former police general, to life in
prison for the intentional murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
Ukrainian media reported on Feb. 20
that Melnyk “no longer is the acting deputy head of Pechersk
court,” citing Otrosh’s office.
Kirieyev became a judge when former
President Viktor Yushchenko appointed him to the Berezan City Court
in Kyiv Oblast on May 13, 2009. Berezan is a city of roughly 17,000
residents.
In that capacity Kirieyev ruled on alimony
payments and fined residents for petty hooliganism, according to the
electronic registry of court rulings.
But on April 20, 2011, his career took
off.
President Viktor Yanukovych appointed
him as a judge to Pechersk District Court, known as the nation’s
top political court. According to public records, Kirieyev presided
over 63 cases in his first two months there.
Tymoshenko’s case came before
Kiriyev’s bench on June 24, 2011.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can
be reached at [email protected].
