Former CCU head Tupytskyi faces new suspicion
7 October 2024 16:09
Law enforcement officers have served a notice of suspicion to the former head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The agency does not name the suspect, but the circumstances of the case point to Oleksandr Tupytskyi.
It is noted that this is an organised criminal group, which included the deputy head of one of the district police departments in the Transcarpathian region and employees of the State Border Guard Service. They were notified of suspicion of illegal trafficking of persons across the state border of Ukraine (part 3 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The former chairman of the Constitutional Court was among those who used the illegal service.
The investigation established that the offenders smuggled Ukrainian citizens through certain border checkpoints in Berehove district of Zakarpattia region without passing border control.
The SBI said that the law enforcement officer hired a driver to transport the men out of Ukraine by car through the checkpoints where the gang members worked.
“In particular, he controlled that the border guards let the ‘necessary’ cars through without checking the documents of the vehicle’s passengers. Only the driver’s data was entered into the database,” the SBI said.
Outside the checkpoint, the driver would get out of the car, hand over control to the person he had just illegally taken out of Ukraine, and then return to Ukraine on foot, where he would receive a reward from a law enforcement officer.
The car with the illegally smuggled Ukrainian citizens would continue on and officially enter the neighbouring state.
In March 2022, the former Head of the CCU also left Ukraine under this scheme to hide from criminal liability for committing a number of crimes in the field of justice.
At the same time, he facilitated the illegal border crossing of two other citizens who were travelling with him in the car.
Also, within the framework of this criminal proceeding, Tupytskyi was notified of suspicion of illegal trafficking of persons across the state border of Ukraine in complicity with members of this organised group (Part 2 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Who is Oleksandr Tupytskyi?
oleksandr Tupytskyi, 60, has worked in Ukrainian courts since 1993.
In May 2013, the then fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych appointed him a judge of the Constitutional Court under his quota.
In 2018-19, Tupytskyi was deputy chairman of the CCU, and in September 2019, he was appointed chairman for three years.
What Oleksandr Tupytskyi is accused of
Oleksandr Tupytskyi is accused of committing a number of criminal offences against justice.
At the end of 2020, the former head of the CCU was served with a notice of suspicion in a corruption case. According to the investigation, in 2018, while holding the position of Deputy Head of the CCU, acting in the personal interests and interests of the former Head of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine Viktor Tatkov, he influenced a witness in criminal proceedings by bribing him to refuse to testify or give deliberately false testimony.
In addition, three times in 2018-2019, Tupytskyi provided deliberately false testimony to the investigator of the Special Investigations Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, combined with the artificial creation of defence evidence, regarding a particularly serious crime related to the misappropriation of property assets of PJSC Zuivskyi Energomechanical Plant.
on 17 March 2022, Tupytskyi, having no legal grounds for leaving Ukraine under martial law, in violation of the procedure established by law, without passing border and customs control, left Ukraine near the Kosyno checkpoint in Zakarpattia region. He is currently in Austria.
on 29 July 2022, a preventive measure in the form of detention was imposed on the former head of the Constitutional Court, Oleksandr Tupytskyi. In particular, this was to allow him to apply for his extradition from Austria, the SBI reported at the time.
