UKRAINE: PRESSURE ON PECHERSK COURT INCREASES,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 000804

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: PRESSURE ON PECHERSK COURT INCREASES,
INCLUDING THEFT OF STAMP AND KEYS

REF: A. KYIV 784

B. KYIV 790

Classified By: DCM Sheila Gwaltney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: The Pechersk District Court became
involved in the struggle over President Yushchenko's decree
dismissing the Rada and setting new elections April 3 after
it threw out an April 2 Rada resolution to replace the
current Central Election Commission (CEC) with the previous
one led by the discredited Serhiy Kivalov, now a Regions MP.
The morning of April 5, the court's recently dismissed
chairman Kolesnichenko physically attacked and forcibly
seized a court stamp from a court employee while accompanied
by an unnamed MP and a group of men. Acting court chairwoman
Otrash privately confirmed press accounts of the incident to
us. Otrash told the media she later saw Kolesnichenko
stamping documents in his office, which he has refused to
vacate, and that Kivalov had threatened court judges in an
April 4 visit to the court, demanding that they rescind their
April 3 decision. President Yushchenko ordered General
Prosecutor Medvedko to investigate the incident. A court
staffer confirmed to us later in the day that Kivalov left
the court with the Pechersk court stamp (one of two) seized
by Kolesnichenko, plus the keys to the safes in Otrash's
office.


2. (C) Comment: The reported events at the Pechersk district
court and the direct involvement of Serhiy Kivalov are
troubling developments. Ambassador raised the issue with PM
adviser Kostantin Gryshchenko late April 5. Gryshchenko
registered our concerns and could only offer a weak response,
noting that Kolesnichenko had been seen as sympathetic to
Regions and that Yushchenko had dismissed him to install a
judge sympathetic to his own views. End Summary and Comment.


A Court Not New to Political Controversy
--------------


3. (SBU) Background: the Pechersk District Court has
territorial jurisdictions over central Kyiv to include the
Parliament (Verkhovna Rada),Cabinet of Ministers and
Presidential Secretariat. It is likely Ukraine's most
prominent district court, with a history of controversial
political and economic rulings. During the Kuchma era, the
court was viewed as being partially controlled by Kuchma
chief of Staff Viktor Medvedchuk. The Pechersk Court became
embroiled in the latest bureaucratic jostling between the
coalition and opposition when, on April 3, it threw out the
Rada April 2 resolution attempting to reinstate the
discredited 2004 Central Election Committee headed by Serhiy
Kivalov, now a Regions MP, Chairman of the Rada's Judicial
Committee, and a member of the High Council of Justice.
Pressure on the court began April 4, with Kivalov vowing to
unseat the court judges and making a visit to the court
threatening the judges' removal unless they rescinded their
April 3 decision. On the same day, 20 coalition MPs arrived
at the CEC chair's office to pressure for current Chair
Davydovych's removal and Kivalov's return, with one MP vowing
to stay at the commission until May 27 to prevent it from
implementing the pre-term elections called for by President
Yushchenko (ref B).

Former Court Chairman Forcibly Seizes Court Stamp...
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) The court's acting chair, Inna Otrash, privately
confirmed to us April 5 accounts she had provided to
reporters earlier: while the judges were in chambers, the
court's former chairman, Volodymr Kolesnichenko, entered the
court accompanied by an unidentified MP and a group of
apparent bodyguards, demanded the court stamp from Otrash's
assistant, and when the employee refused, physically shoved
her and forcibly seized one of the court's official stamps.
(Note: an Interfax reporter claims to have seen Kivalov enter
the office where the altercation occurred.) Kolesnichenko,
who was dismissed as the court's chairman two weeks earlier
by President Yushchenko, had refused to accept his
reassignment to the Uman court in Cherkasy province. Otrash
told reporters she subsequently saw Kolesnichenko stamping
documents in his former office.

...President and Speaker interested...
--------------


5. (U) President Yushchenko, meeting Prosecutor general
Oleksander Medvedko at the time of the incident, instructed
Medvedko to open an investigation, according to the
Presidential Secretariat news service. Before the events
unfolded, Rada Speaker Moroz had authorized the heads of the

KYIV 00000804 002 OF 002


three relevant parliamentary committees, MPs Kivalov
(Judiciary),Dzhyha (Anti-Corruption),and Samoilenko
(National Security and Defense),to "investigate" the
situation at the Pechersk Court.

...and Kivalov walks away with the stamp and safe keys
-------------- --------------


6. (SBU) A court employee confirmed to us late April 5 that
MP Kivalov had departed the Pechersk court in possession of
the stamp which Kolesnichenko had seized in the morning,
along with the keys from the safes in Otrash's office.


7. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Taylor