The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court extended the hearing in the case of Vladimir Orlov
On August 28, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court continued its review of the appeal in the case of Vladimir Orlov, former deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, whom the trial court had acquitted of extorting a $200,000 bribe in exchange for granting a land plot to a limited liability company.
The latest court session was delayed by two hours, but the case has not yet moved to the stage of arguments by the parties.
On Friday, the three-judge panel reviewed evidence presented by the prosecution. Among this evidence was a transcript of conversations between Orlov and a witness in the case, Oleksiy Gonchar, whose testimony formed the basis for bringing charges against the former official. According to the defense, this witness falsified his testimony, as he may have been coerced by law enforcement agencies to fabricate a false case against the high-ranking official.
The prosecution attempted to add to the evidence copies of orders allocating land to both private enterprises and individuals, signed by Vladimir Orlov, deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, while he was acting as head of the administration. The judges were unable to reach an agreement on whether to admit these materials into the case, as the prosecution had attempted to introduce them only after the investigation had concluded.
The court has now adjourned. The next hearing will take place on September 17.
“One aspect of today’s court session particularly surprised me. As evidence of my guilt, the prosecutor submitted land allocation orders for 2022–2024, which were requested only after the trial had begun in the court of first instance—that is, after the pretrial investigation had been completed. This raised questions even among the appellate court judges. The presiding judge asked the prosecutor, ‘If you find that you’re missing something again during the appeal, will you continue to gather evidence?’” Volodymyr Orlov said after the hearing.
The second important point, in his opinion, concerns the authority of the position of deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.
“The department that handles land issues did not report to me. But that’s not even the main point. From May 2, when Gonchar came to see me, until my dismissal on August 25, I served as acting head of the regional military administration for 29 days. During that entire time, I never once initiated the preparation or signing of the order they needed, nor did I ask anyone to push it through. It was specifically on May 2 that I was not acting head. “So this is also a matter of my authority,” Orlov noted, once again emphasizing that he was not authorized to sign documents allocating a land plot to anyone—for which, according to the investigation, he allegedly requested a bribe.
Orlov reiterated that when he was asked to sign an order allocating land to the LLC, he refused. This was recorded on the relevant media.
As a reminder, during the previous court hearing, it was revealed that Oleksiy Gonchar had been detained by officers of the SBU’s Directorate for Combating Corruption, and he is believed to have been working covertly for law enforcement and special services. The detainee is reported to have used several aliases: Shevchenko, Karpenko, Torop, and Topor.
On February 12, 2026, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) acquitted Volodymyr Orlov, the former first deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. Judge Larysa Zadorozhna found him not guilty in the case involving the solicitation of an unlawful benefit.
