Court Arrests Former Head of Lviv Commercial Court

The High Court of Criminal Appeals applied a preventive measure in the form of detention until February 10, 2025, inclusive, with the alternative of paying UAH 20 million in bail to a judge of a commercial court in one of the regions, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) reported.

On December 13, 2024, an investigating judge of the Higher Criminal Court of Criminal Procedure applied a preventive measure to a judge of a commercial court in one of the regions, who, together with the former chairman of this court, was exposed for extorting $1 million in illegal benefits from a representative of a private company.

The SAPO's report does not specify the name of the judge, but the Anti-Corruption Center previously reported that the aforementioned preventive measure was applied to the former head of the Lviv Regional Commercial Court, Vasyl Artimovich.

The suspect was taken into custody in the courtroom.

As reported, the High Council of Justice agreed to detain Artimovich and the former head of the same court, Mykhailo Yurkevich.

According to the SAPO, the above-mentioned individuals promised the businessman $1 million to ensure the adoption of the necessary decisions in court cases under the jurisdiction of one of the appellate commercial courts.

NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors documented the transfer of part of the ill-gotten gains in the amount of $75,000.

Artimovich was dismissed from the position of chairman of the Lviv region commercial court at his own request.

We previously reported that the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court left unchanged the decision of the High Council of Justice to dismiss Vsevolod Knyazev from the position of a judge of the Supreme Court.

We also wrote that in Odessa, police officers, together with SBI officers, detained a state bailiff for extorting a bribe of 50,000 hryvnias.