High Council of Justice suspends disciplinary case of Odesa judge

The High Council of Justice has announced a break in the consideration of the disciplinary case against judge of the Kyiv District Court of Odesa Yulia Feduleieva.

According to the HCJ press service, the case was opened following a complaint from lawyers: Mykola Pavlenko, Svitlana Smolnikova and Oleksandr Honchar. The lawyers complained about the judge in the summer of 2021.

What the lawyers complained about

The lawyers stated that investigating judge Yuli Feduleieva, when considering the petition filed in the interests of the French Boulevard-Elite Limited Liability Company, ignored the imperative instructions of the Supreme Court reflected in the ruling of February 25, 2020, by which the criminal proceedings were sent for consideration to the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, as well as the ruling of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv of April 27, 2020 and the ruling of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv of January 19, 2021, which entered into force. The applicants believed that the judge had violated the rules of both subject matter and territorial jurisdiction by her actions. The judge ordered the prosecutor to resume the pre-trial investigation and take investigative actions.

As the judge explained her actions

In her written explanations, Yulia Feduleieva noted that her ruling of May 14, 2021 was made to ensure the rights of the victims, while it did not affect the rights and interests of any of the other participants in the criminal proceedings, and the issuance of such a ruling did not lead to any negative consequences for such persons. Referring to a letter from the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases dated October 3, 2012, the judge stated that when issuing the ruling of May 14, 2021, the prosecutor was not obliged to take any other procedural actions other than those specified in the decision to return the indictment, which, in her opinion, is another evidence of the absence of any negative consequences, since the prosecutor was already obliged to take such actions. The judge also stated that her decision did not lead to legal uncertainty for the accused. The judge called the arguments of the complaint about the lack of motives for the decision of May 14, 2021, as being limited to disagreement with the court's decision.

What the Council of Justice decided

The High Council of Justice decided that Yulia Feduleieva had accepted a case that, due to a number of legal facts, was not within her competence, and therefore committed a significant violation of procedural law in the administration of justice, which led to a violation of the rules of jurisdiction.

Thus, according to the HCJ, the judge violated the balance of interests of the parties to the criminal proceedings to be present during the court hearing and express their arguments before the court, which also contains signs of a significant violation of procedural law in the administration of justice, making it impossible for the parties to the trial to exercise their procedural rights and fulfill their procedural obligations.

In addition, by ordering the prosecutor to take certain actions, the investigating judge actually obliged him to make procedural decisions, which was an interference with the procedural independence of a participant in criminal proceedings.

In view of all this, the HCJ decided to open a disciplinary complaint against the judge.

Кирило Бойко