Court attaches ECHR decision on sanctions rights to Poroshenko case materials
The court has included in the case materials on the imposition of sanctions against the Member of Parliament, leader of the European Solidarity party Petro Poroshenko, the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) dated October 16, according to which sanctioned persons in Ukraine do not have sufficient opportunity to protect their rights and due procedural guarantees against arbitrariness during the judicial review of the decision to impose sanctions.
As reported on the website of the European Solidarity party on Friday, representatives of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Cabinet of Ministers tried to object to the inclusion of the ECHR decision in the case materials, but the court supported the motion of Poroshenko's side.
On Friday, the panel of judges of the Cassation Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court continues to consider Poroshenko's lawsuit against Zelenskyy to cancel the decree on the imposition of sanctions. Representatives of diplomatic missions, journalists and people's deputies are present in the courtroom.
Poroshenko's lawyers also attached to the case materials documents proving the identity of the formulations in publications about Poroshenko on resources related to Ukrainian politician and lawyer Andriy Portnov, killed in Spain on May 21, and in the justification of sanctions in the decree of the head of state.
Poroshenko claims that the ideologist of the introduction of sanctions against him was Portnov, and the Office of the President implemented his concept.
"Two weeks before the publications on sanctions, I, as the leader of "European Solidarity" and my political force, initiated a petition for the introduction of sanctions by President of Ukraine Zelensky against the state criminal Portnov... This petition very quickly gained the necessary 25,000. …At the same time, we received threats from Portnov that he would take revenge and sanctions would be imposed against me," the politician said.
Lawyers for the fifth president, Golovan and Novikov, stated that the trial in the Cassation Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court on Petro Poroshenko's lawsuit to overturn the illegal decree on sanctions is entering its final stages. Lawyer Ilya Novikov also added that the court has two dozen pages left to examine in the case, so a decision can be expected early next year.
As reported, the murder of Portnov occurred in the suburbs of Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón on May 21. He was shot in the back as he was about to get into his Mercedes parked on the sidewalk. The Spanish National Police have announced a search for three people involved in the murder. The judge investigating Portnov's death has ruled to keep the investigation confidential.
On June 2, Iryna Gerashchenko, co-chair of the Eurosolidarity faction in the Verkhovna Rada, said that the faction had initiated the creation of a temporary investigative commission to investigate Portnov's influence on the judicial system and law enforcement agencies and expects representatives from all factions of the Ukrainian parliament to join this commission.
On February 13, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on the NSDC decision of February 12, 2025 "On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)." According to the appendix to the document, sanctions were imposed against five individuals: Poroshenko, Ihor Kolomoisky, former owner of the Finance and Credit bank Konstantin Zhevago, former co-owner of PrivatBank Gennady Boholiubov, and former MP Viktor Medvedchuk.
Poroshenko appealed the sanctions in the Supreme Court. On April 17, the court began considering the claim in the presence of people's deputies of Ukraine, as well as diplomats from the European Union mission, representatives of the embassies of Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Lithuania, and Denmark. Poroshenko's representatives emphasize that the sanctions were imposed illegally as a citizen of Ukraine who is in the country, while only Russia considers him a "terrorist." Therefore, there are no grounds for sanctions under the law.