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The General Prosecutor’s Office in absentia reported the suspicion to the head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Oleksandr Tupitsky. Furthermore, the prosecution requests President Volodymyr Zelensky to remove him from his duties as a judge.
If the president has the right to do so, RBK-Ukraine realized.
Tupitsky became a defendant in a criminal case
The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation reported on the morning of Monday, December 28, that Tupitsky did not appear for questioning. They planned to hand over services to him personally on suspicion of a crime.
“Today Tupitsky did not appear for the interrogation, citing family circumstances. But he did not provide any supporting document. Taking this into account, the suspicion was sent to him by mail, and not delivered personally. Consequently, from that moment, he is considered suspect, “RBC-Ukraine told the prosecution’s press service.
The suspicion refers to the case opened in 2013 for the misappropriation of the assets of the Zuevsky mechanical power plant in the Donetsk region. This company is now in the territory controlled by the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”.
Tupitsky, who later served as head of the Donetsk Economic Court of Appeal, according to the investigation, facilitated the seizure of the plant’s assets in court.
Now a suspicion has been surrendered to the current president of the Constitutional Court under art. 384 (mislead a court or other authorized body) and art. 386 (forcing a witness to refuse to testify) of the Penal Code. He faces up to 5 years in prison for these crimes.
Zelensky has the right to eliminate Tupitsky
In connection with the suspicion report, the Attorney General’s Office sent Zelensky a petition to remove Tupitsky from his post for 2 months.
Fyodor Venislavsky, the president’s representative in the KSU, claims that the head of state has this right and can use it legally.
“There is an article of the Criminal Procedure Code that provides for the possibility of removing from office a person designated by the president during the pre-trial investigation. The head of state issues decrees based on the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. In this case, the Code of Criminal Procedure is law and the president fully complies with this law has the right to remove Mr. Tupitsky from the post of judge of the KSU “, – he explained in a comment to RBK-Ukraine.
Venislavsky points out that the special guarantees of the judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine against criminal prosecution only concern the possibility of their arrest and detention. These actions are only possible with the consent of the majority of the judges of the Constitutional Court.
“As for the removal procedure, it is regulated only by the Criminal Procedure Code, so there are no contradictions,” said Zelensky’s representative.
Tupitsky thinks differently
Tupitsky has a different opinion on this situation. An informed source from the KSU told RBC-Ukraine that the head of the court considers his criminal prosecution illegal. In particular, according to Tupitsky, the State Investigations Office did not have the authority to initiate a case against him.
“The RRB is investigating cases on ‘charges’, and there are judges among them, but there are no KSU judges. The RRB generally cannot investigate those articles about which they planned to announce suspicions or have already announced. These are criminal cases general, they are being investigated by the police, “said the source. agencies.
Furthermore, it hints at a possible conflict of interest between the Attorney General’s Office and the RRB, as the KSU is now considering cases on the constitutionality of its operation.
According to him, Tupitsky did not appear at the prosecution on Monday for questioning “for valid reasons” and “has no intention of hiding.”
At the same time, he stressed that this year there will be no CCU meetings. Some of the judges went on vacation over the New Years break.
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