High Council of Justice received a complaint from NABU against a judge from Odesa

High Council of Justice received a complaint from NABU against a judge from Odesa

A disciplinary case was opened against the judge of the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa Illya Lonskyi in the High Council of Justice. At the same time, a case is being heard against Lonskyi on charges of bribery and fraud.

This was reported by the High Council of Justice .

The complaint was filed by the NABU, which is investigating how Lonskyi and a lawyer he knows allegedly incited a man to bribe another judge and intended to embezzle some of the money. The NABU wants to bring Illya Lonskyi to disciplinary responsibility because it believes that his behaviour may discredit the title of judge or undermine the authority of justice, as well as because of Lonskyi’s interference in the administration of justice by other judges.

According to the complaint, judge of the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa, Anzhelika Rusyeva, was handling a case of an administrative offence, in particular, a man was accused of drunken driving. In May 2023, the latter turned to a lawyer for legal assistance. At the end of May, the lawyer, according to the investigation, decided to incite his client to pay a bribe to the judge for a positive decision in the case.

This lawyer allegedly turned to Illya Lonskyi, with whom he had been friends for a long time, and offered to act as an intermediary and pass the bribe to Rusyeva. According to the investigation, Lonsky accepted the offer. In June 2023, the accused of drunken driving filed a statement with the NABU, reporting that the judge in charge of his case and his lawyer were demanding a bribe from him.

As a result, on 19 June 2023, the accused of drunken driving first handed over the money to the lawyer, who gave it to Judge Ilya Lonskyi, according to the complaint. The amount in question was $1,250, of which $1,000 was allegedly intended for Ruseva for a positive decision in the drunken driving case, and $250 was to be kept by Lonsky, according to law enforcement officials.

Then Lonskyi and the lawyer were detained. Subsequently, they were suspected of an unfinished attempt to bribe a public official, as well as of taking possession of another’s property by deception. The lawyer involved in the case is likely to be Yevhen Berestovyi - he and Lonsky are accused and are due to appear at the next HACC hearing on 1 July.

NABU detectives also recorded conversations and gained access to correspondence between Judge Lonskyi and lawyer Yevhen Berestovyi. The interlocutors allegedly discussed the amount of future bribes they would receive for resolving cases that were in the proceedings of other judges.

It is worth noting that the pre-trial investigation against Illya Lonskyi has already been completed, and the case is being considered in court. Lonskyi himself was temporarily suspended from office.