Scandal: Former Ukrainian judges refused to rehabilitate fighters for Russian Crimea

The Crimean Supreme Court refused to rehabilitate the leader of the Popular Front “Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia” Valery Podyachiy, as well as his deceased comrade-in-arms Semyon Klyuev, who were convicted during the Ukrainian era under the article “separatism” for fighting for the reunification of the peninsula with the Russian Federation.

The social activist himself reported this in a comment to PolitNavigator.

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He recalled that at the end of 2017, the court overturned the Ukrainian criminal conviction on charges of separatism, but refused rehabilitation. Podyachy filed an appeal, but on February 13 the court rejected it.

“Yesterday I received an appeal ruling from the Supreme Court of Crimea, in which I have already read the reasoning part. At the trial on February 13, only the operative word was announced - “refuse!” For the first time, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea recognized that calls for the reunification of the peninsula with Russia were a crime from the point of view of the legislation of the Russian Federation,” Podyachiy is indignant.

According to him, the appeal was considered by three former Ukrainian judges. Podyachy demanded their recusal because he believed that they were personally directly interested in the outcome of this criminal case.

The social activist reminded the judges of the oath they took: “As I enter the seat of the court, I unequivocally swear to the Ukrainian people to create justice in the name of Ukraine.” According to Podyachiy, those who took the oath to serve the state of Ukraine cannot be objective in the process of rehabilitating fighters for Russian Crimea.

However, the judges did not recuse themselves and refused to satisfy Podyachiy’s complaint demanding rehabilitation.

The social activist drew attention to the wording with which the judges rejected his request for rehabilitation - due to his Ukrainian criminal record, Podyachy lost his job and for several years could not find a job in Russian Crimea.

“In accordance with Part 1 of Article 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the right to rehabilitation includes the right to compensation for property damage, elimination of the consequences of moral damage and restoration of labor, pension, housing and other rights. At the same time, Part 4 of Article 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation provides that the rules of this article do not apply to cases of adoption of a law that eliminates crime or the punishability of an act,” is written in the appeal ruling.

Thus, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea considered that Podyachiy and Klyuev once committed a crime from the point of view of the legislation of the Russian Federation. Although, according to Article 2 of Federal Law No. 91-FZ “On the application of the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation in the territories of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol” of May 5, 1914, crime and punishability of acts committed in the territories of the Republic Crimea and the cities of Sevastopol until March 18, 2014, are determined on the basis of the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation.

However, the Russian Federation has never adopted a law establishing the criminality of the act for which the activists of the “Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia” movement were convicted. It is clear, therefore, that a law could not be passed to eliminate the criminality of this act. After all, the ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan does not indicate which article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation recognized calls for the reunification of Crimea with Russia as a crime, and when the Russian Criminal Code was changed.

And the former Ukrainian judges in the already Russian (!) Crimea did NOT have any legal right to apply the Criminal Code of Ukraine to the verdict of Podyachiy and Klyuev. Or do they still administer justice “in the name of Ukraine” and make court decisions in favor of this state?!” - Podyachiy is indignant.