The Verkhovna Rada is considering the appointment of Hanna Ponomariova to the position of judge
The High Council of Justice is once again considering the appointment of Hanna Ponomariova as a judge of the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal, and this case is raising more and more questions due to potential conflicts of interest, family ties, and financial circumstances that appear controversial, to say the least. Decisions regarding her have already been postponed several times, but now the High Council of Justice is returning to this issue for the third time, and attention to it is only growing, according to .
The issue is that Ponomariova is the wife of current High Council of Justice member Dmytro Lukianov, which in itself creates a sensitive situation surrounding her potential appointment. Previously, other current High Council of Justice members and individuals connected to the system had been recommended to this same court, but it is this particular candidate who has drawn additional public attention.
A separate set of questions concerns her asset declarations and ties to business in the temporarily occupied territories. The documents mention non-residential real estate in Mariupol with an area of over 1,500 square meters, which, according to the declarations, was purchased in 2017 for approximately 250,000 hryvnias—a price that raises doubts about the reality of market conditions.
It is also noted that Ponomareva maintains ties with legal entities that were re-registered in Russian registries after 2022 and continue to operate under occupation. According to the data, one of these businesses is managed by her brother, a Russian citizen who moved to occupied Mariupol after the start of the full-scale war, while the company continues to operate and pay taxes to the aggressor state’s budget.
Separately, attention is drawn to the fact that the candidate received state assistance as an internally displaced person for housing rent, despite the family’s declared significant cash savings.
Ultimately, the situation appears to be a complex web of potential conflicts of interest, family ties, and business assets in the occupied territory, which the High Council of Justice must evaluate during its upcoming review of her candidacy. At the same time, a public question remains open: will these circumstances become a real barrier to her appointment, or will they once again go unaddressed.
We previously reported that a second request was submitted to the High Council of Justice on behalf of Alona Volodymyrivna Shevtsova regarding Judge Volodymyr Yaroslavovych Marmash of the Lychakiv District Court of Lviv.
Let us recall how Judge Marmash and BEB detectives establish the rules of judicial proceedings at their own discretion.
Previously, a disciplinary complaint was under consideration by the High Council of Justice on behalf of Alona Volodymyrivna Shevtsova regarding Judge Volodymyr Yaroslavovych Marmash of the Lychakiv District Court of Lviv, who committed gross violations bordering on disciplinary and criminal liability during, in particular, considering a motion by BEB detectives to conduct a special pre-trial investigation regarding Alona V. Shevtsova.
The complaint against Marmash is that he rendered his decision after the expiration of the pre-trial investigation period, which made it impossible to grant the motion. The only lawful option in such a situation was to return the motion; however, Judge Marmash V.Y. failed to comply with the requirements of the law.
