The HACC will begin hearing the merits of Tetiana Ilieva’s case

After ten months of preparatory hearings, the HACC will finally begin examining the evidence and questioning witnesses in the case. The hearing will begin on July 31.

According to the prosecution, in 2020, Tetiana Ilieva, a judge of the Pechersk District Court, issued an illegal decision that lifted the seizure of €110.7 thousand and $9.3 thousand. This money was connected to another criminal case involving Andrii Mykhaniv, the former vice president of the State Joint-Stock Company Bread of Ukraine. Law enforcement officers are convinced that Ilieva had no right to lift the seizure because Mykhaniv was already on trial. As a result, she was not authorized to decide on any petitions or statements as an investigating judge. We wrote about the case in more detail here.

Ilieva’s case was brought to court in September 2023. During that time, her defenders repeatedly disrupted the hearings with constant arguments, interruptions, and insulting remarks toward the panel of judges. We also wrote about the peculiarities and disruptions of the first preparatory meeting here.

It is likely that one of the defense strategies was to delay the process. The defenders attempted to read dozens of petitions in full, often of the same type, and systematically submitted petitions for adjournment, along with more than ten challenges to the judges, prosecutor, and secretary. They even managed to artificially create grounds for recusal, such as the defense counsel’s request for a personal meeting with a member of the panel of judges (who was also the Chairperson of the HACC), Vira Mykhaylenko. Additionally, delaying the court session until the evening in order to file a recusal with the secretary due to overtime work was not feasible.

Ilieva changed lawyers three times. The recent two cases were particularly interesting. In one case, the reason for terminating the contract was that the assistants of Ilieva’s defense attorney from Voichenko and Dulskyi Attorneys at Law overheard the judges discussing the possible administrative liability of the attorney due to unethical behavior during the hearing. In another case, which occurred on July 10, the new defender opted for the tactic of reading out his motions in full. After the presiding judge’s remark, he ceased providing legal aid to the accused Ilieva and left the court session.

The court even decided to stop broadcasting the court proceedings in this case on YouTube to prevent the defense from abusing its rights by delaying the process.

Since the proceedings have now moved to a new stage, we hope for an efficient, fair, and public hearing within a reasonable time.