Reformer of the week – Oleh Pushak
Oleh Pushak, an activist of the car-based AutoMaidan protest group, is on trial on charges of throwing eggs at Oleh Barna, a lawmaker from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko parliament faction, at a protest in 2017.
The trial against Pushak and his fellow AutoMaidan activists Sergei Hadzhynov and Bohdan Melnyk was supposed to begin on Nov. 29, but the hearings were delayed until March 19, 2019.
According to the official charges, they face up to seven years in prison for “committing violence against a state official.”
The AutoMaidan group, set up during the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, has consistently exposed corruption and supported anti-corruption reforms.
The criminal case against the AutoMaidan is seen by anti-corruption activists as part of an ongoing crackdown on activists.
There have been at least 93 violent attacks on activists and journalists since the EuroMaidan Revolution nationwide, including at least six attempted murders and at least 10 murders.
Anti-reformer of the week – Oksana Golub
Oksana Golub, a judge at Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court, on Nov. 12 successfully passed legal knowledge tests for the High Anti-Corruption Court.
Golub did not respond to a request for comment.
On Nov. 29, the Chesno watchdog identified her and 42 other candidates for the anti-corruption court as not complying with integrity standards.
In 2012 and 2013, Golub failed to declare the ownership or use of any residential properties. Chesno concluded that this indicates a violation of asset declaration rules. Golub told the Kyiv Post that she did not have to declare residential premises under the law because she lived at her mother’s house.
During the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, Golub stripped an AutoMaidan activist of a driver’s license after an AutoMaidan rally in front of then President Viktor Yanukovych’s Mezhyhyria residence. AutoMaidan lawyer Roman Maselko believes the decision to be unlawful. He said documents in the case were forged, and there was no evidence of the activist’s guilt.
Golub denied the accusations of wrongdoing and said she did not remember the circumstances of the case.
Another candidate for the anti-corruption court, Taras Zayets, is also accused of unlawfully trying EuroMaidan activists. He denies the accusations.
There are accusations that legal knowledge tests, which were taken by candidates for the court on Nov. 12, could have been manipulated in favor of government-friendly candidates.
Many of the test questions had more than one correct answer, Vitaly Tytych, coordinator of the Public Integrity Council, Judge Mykhailo Slobodin and High Qualification Commission member Andriy Kozlov said.
Thus the commission had an opportunity to promote some candidates by telling them which answers it deems right, according to Tytych, who was a candidate for the Supreme Court but did not pass to the next stage. He said that he had requested his test results from the High Qualification Commission, and – if the commission refused to provide them – it would be the ultimate proof of manipulation. The commission has denied accusations of manipulating the test results.
