Supreme Court Delays Decision on Odesa City Council Mixed Meetings

The Supreme Court has not started considering the cassation appeal of Odesa deputy Zhanna Mandrychenko against the decision of the Fifth Court of Appeal on the legality of holding sessions of the Odesa City Council in a mixed mode for a year and a half.

This was reported to Intent by the deputy herself.

This refers to the period when some members of the city council did not appear in the meeting room, but participated in them via video.

In 2022, Zhanna Mandrychenko went to court, and in early December 2022, the Odesa District Administrative Court declared the order of the Odesa Mayor "On Approval of the Procedure for Holding Remote Meetings of the Odesa City Council under Martial Law" illegal and invalid.

The court of first instance ruled that no legislative provision specified in the order provides for remote meetings during the legal regime of martial law.

However, in March 2023, the Fifth Administrative Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the Odesa District Administrative Court, which had declared the Odesa Mayor's order to hold city council sessions in a mixed mode unlawful.

The court of first instance, according to the mayor's representatives, had misapplied the substantive law and violated the procedural law. Therefore, Gennadiy Trukhanov's lawyer asked the court of appeal to cancel the appealed decision of the Odesa District Administrative Court.

The first session during martial law was held on June 29. At that time, the head of the Odesa CVU Anatoliy Boyko called the city council meeting the most shameful in his memory because of the "hybrid format" of the meeting, when some deputies were connected via video conference, which, in his opinion, was legally controversial and morally unacceptable, because deputies should be in the city, together with their voters, whom they promised to take care of during the elections.

Holding a session of the city council in the "mix" mode also drew criticism from the European Solidarity faction. The deputies of this political force, who were present at the session, simply left the meeting room.

Кирило Бойко