Head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev expelled head of the Cassation Economic Court as part of the Supreme Court Judge Bohdan Lvov from the staff of the court, the Supreme Court informs.

"The Constitution of Ukraine defines that the powers of a judge are terminated in case of termination of citizenship of Ukraine or acquisition of citizenship of another state by a judge. In such circumstances, the chairman of the court has the right to expel from the staff of the court in accordance with the law of Ukraine ‘On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges,’" the Supreme Court said in a statement posted on the court's Facebook page on Wednesday.

The message notes: "In accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law of Ukraine and the relevant law on the judicial system, the head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev issued an order to expel Bohdan Yuriyovych Lviv from the staff of the Supreme Court from October 5, 2022 on the basis of information from the Security Service of Ukraine, in which the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed that B. Y. Lvov has citizenship of the Russian Federation according to the registers of the Russian Federation."

In the message, the court quotes Knyazev's comment on this matter. "This is an unprecedented decision for the judicial system, because these provisions of the Constitution and the Law are applied for the first time. But in times of a full-scale war with the Russian Federation, when our best citizens are dying at the front and in the rear, we cannot allow even the slightest doubt in the objectivity, independence and impartiality of the Supreme Court and all its judges."

According to the head of the Supreme Court, despite the fact that Lvov himself denies having a Russian passport, "his actions and the situation itself are already seriously harming the authority of the Supreme Court, causing public distrust of the decisions of the Supreme Court, which should never happen."

Kniazev emphasizes that "even the vacation of judge Bohdan Lvov does not solve the problem of his Russian citizenship, because the vacation does not deprive the person of authority, but creates the impression that Bohdan Lvov still has the powers of a judge of the Supreme Court and the head of the Cassation Economic Court of the Supreme Court."

The head of the Supreme Court points out that the court in its actions "relies on the information of the Security Service of Ukraine until they are refuted in the manner prescribed by law, therefore Bohdan Lvov is not deprived of the right to prove that he does not have Russian citizenship."

Earlier, the Supreme Court reported that according to the results of the SBU audit, the Russian citizenship of the head of the Cassation Economic Court as part of the Supreme Court of the judge of Lvov was established, and the assembly of judges will consider the issue of his early release from office. At the meeting of judges, there were not enough judges to dismiss Lvov from his post.