Oleksandr Bobrovnyk, a judge of Solomyansky District Court in Kyiv who heard cases against top officials and politicians, died late on May 13 near Kyiv, Solomyansky District Court spokesperson Yana Kvitchenko told the Kyiv Post.
Kvitchenko didn’t cite the cause of death, but according to Kyiv Post sources not authorized to speak publicly and several media reports, Bobrovnyk died of a heart attack. The police said an autopsy would be conducted.
He was just 37.
Police in Zhytomyr Oblast, about 150 kilometers west of Kyiv, said Bobrovnyk became ill while driving, online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported. An ambulance was called, but Bobrovnyk had died by the time it arrived, Ukrainska Pravda said.
Bobrovnyk presided over a number of controversial top-level corruption and criminal cases.
In March 2017, Bobrovnyk issued an arrest warrant for Roman Nasirov, former head of the State Fiscal Service, who was accused of corruption in tax cases. The decision to extend Nasirov’s arrest was taken under pressure from hundreds of activists who picketed the court for two days. Nasirov was later released on bail for a record sum in Ukraine of Hr 100 million ($3.7 million) set by Bobrovnyk.
The Nasirov case was sent to trial in December. But the trial could take years because hearings are scheduled once a month, and the court has also decided to first read the whole 700-page indictment, instead of beginning to consider the case, Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, has said.
In April 2017, Bobrovnyk also released without bail an influential ex-lawmaker from People’s Front party, Mykola Martynenko, who was accused by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine of charged with organized crime and embezzling $17 million during uranium ore sales to the state-owned Eastern Ore Dressing Plant.
In January, Bobrovnyk released without bail the head of State Audit Service Lidiya Havrylova, who was accused of illicit enrichment.
“This man definitely knew a lot of compromising information,” said Volodymyr Petrakovsky, an expert on law enforcement at the Reanimation Package of Reforms, a reform and corruption watchdog.
Bobrovnyk also became known for closing in 2016 a criminal case against Yuriy Ivaniushchenko, a close ally of the ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
In April 2017, activists of the PROSUD project for monitoring judges published photocopies of case documents from an investigation into Bobrovnyk based on footage from a camera that had been secretly installed in his office. The evidence allegedly showed the judge drinking at work place and taking bribes in cash.
In January, the High Council of Justice started disciplinary action against Bobrovnyk over these accusations.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov contributed to this report
