Bogush, a lawyer from Lviv, was convicted of attempting to bribe a prosecutor
The Lychakiv District Court of Lviv found attorney Igor Bogush guilty of attempting to bribe a prosecutor to secure a lighter sentence for his client. The court sentenced him to four years in prison but suspended the sentence with a probationary period of 1 year and 6 months.
According to the case file, in 2018, the attorney initially offered the prosecutor $2,000–$3,000 and later increased the amount to $5,000 in exchange for a plea agreement that would allow his client to receive a suspended sentence. On May 8, 2018, law enforcement officers detained the lawyer while he was handing over $3,000.
In court, Bohush pleaded guilty. In addition to the probation, he was ordered to transfer 235,000 hryvnias to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The $3,000 handed over to the prosecutor was confiscated as state revenue.
According to a response from Lilia Yakimyak, deputy head of the Secretariat of the High Council of Justice, to a related journalistic inquiry, no exact timeline has been provided for the completion of the disciplinary complaint against Volodymyr Yaroslavovych Marmash, a judge of the Lychakiv District Court of Lviv. Such a prolonged delay in reviewing the complaint may be a demonstration of collusion and a reluctance to hold accountable a “convenient” judge who willingly carries out tasks assigned by unscrupulous law enforcement officials.
The allegation against Marmash is that he issued his ruling after the deadline for the pretrial investigation had already expired, thereby making it impossible to grant the relevant motion. The only lawful option in such a situation was to return the motion; however, Judge V.Y. Marmash failed to comply with the requirements of the law.
