The Supreme Court denied former judge Vovk's request to be reinstated to his position
The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court heard the case of Pavlo Vovk, the former head of the now-dissolved Kyiv District Administrative Court (KDAC), who sought to challenge his dismissal.
The controversial judge sought to overturn the decision of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) to hold him accountable through disciplinary proceedings and to be reinstated to his former position.
However, Ukraine’s highest court denied the former official’s claim, upholding the decision to dismiss him based on evidence from high-profile audio recordings of wiretaps in his office.
During the court hearing, Pavlo Vovk’s defense team attempted to raise procedural violations that allegedly occurred during the collection of evidence.
Attorney Valeria Lutkovska insisted that the covert wiretap recordings constitute a direct intrusion into the official’s private life and cannot be directly used in a disciplinary case.
According to her, the Criminal Procedure Code provides for the use of such confidential materials exclusively within the framework of criminal proceedings or under a strictly defined special procedure.
In addition, the plaintiff’s representative stated that the three-year statute of limitations for holding the judge accountable, as provided by law, had expired.
She accused the High Council of Justice of applying the new version of the relevant legislation “retroactively,” which fundamentally changed the existing rules for calculating statutes of limitations.
The attorney emphasized that such actions by members of the High Council of Justice raise serious questions regarding the legality and legitimacy of their decision to dismiss Pavlo Vovk.
In response, Artem Brintsov, a representative of the High Council of Justice, completely rejected the defense’s accusations and noted that all procedural objections had already been reviewed by the Grand Chamber on multiple occasions.
He noted that the dismissal is based on indisputable evidence of systematic interference by the former head of the Kyiv District Administrative Court in the work of other state bodies and colleagues.
Pavlo Vovk’s conduct—which consisted of issuing direct instructions on how to rule in court cases—seriously undermined the authority of the Ukrainian judiciary.
This was reported by a hromadske correspondent from the courtroom.
The Kyiv Regional Administrative Court stated that Judge Vovk, who is currently a fugitive, is in self-isolation
Judge Vovk, who was dismissed amid a scandal, received over 3.5 million hryvnias in payments
