You're reading: Police detain son of Kyiv Appeals Court judge for sending text messages with judgment instructions

Law enforcement agents have detained the son of head of Kyiv Court of Appeals Anton Chernushenko, Dmytro Chernushenko, who sent text messages to his father with the instructions on which judgments his father should hand down.

“Pursuant to Article 208 the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine, investigators of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine [PGO] together with the employees of the Security Service of Ukraine on July 2, 2015, detained the author of SMS-messages, who is the son of head of Kyiv Court of Appeals Chernushenko. These SMS-messages contained instructions on judgments in cases considered by Kyiv Court of Appeals, which were received by judge of Kyiv Appeal Court Chernushenko,” the press service of the PGO reported on July 3.

According to the press service, from January 2013 until June 2015, Dmytro Chernushenko sent text messages from his mobile phone to Anton Chernushenko containing instructions regarding the desired outcome of cases considered by this court.

Subsequently, Anton Chernushenko interfered with the electronic document management system of the court so he could appoint himself as a presiding judge or a member of the panel and pass knowingly unjust judgments.

Dmytro Chernushenko is currently in jail. Within 24 hours after his detention, he must be notified of suspicion of committing criminal offense, after which documents will be prepared for him to be held on remand.

As reported, the Ukrainian PGO notified Anton Chernushenko of being suspected of committing serious criminal offenses. Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin asked the parliament to allow the arrest and detention of the judge, which the parliament granted.

Chernushenko is suspected of committing crimes under Article 376-1 part two (illegal interference with the automatic document-processing system of the court) and Article 375 part two (the issuance by a judge of knowingly unlawful court rulings) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.