High Qualification Commission of Judges recognizes judge Vovk unsuitable for post of Supreme Court judge
Judge Pavlo Vovk did not attend a meeting of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the Commission refused to uphold his candidacy for the post of judge at the Administrative Cassation Court as part of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
"On February 12, 2024, a plenary session of the High Qualification Commission of Judges considered the issue of confirmation or non-confirmation of the ability of the candidate for the post of judge at the Administrative Cassation Court as part of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, Vovk Pavlo Viacheslavovych, to administer justice at the relevant court," the Commission said on Facebook on Monday.
The High Qualification Commission of Judges recognized Vovk as a candidate who "did not confirm his ability to administer justice at the Administrative Cassation Court as part of the Supreme Court of Ukraine in connection with his absence at the meeting without valid reasons."
As reported, Vovk chaired the District Administrative Court of Kyiv. In 2020, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) put on the wanted list suspects who, acting within a criminal organization led by the head of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, intended to seize state power by establishing control over the High Qualification Commission of Judges as well as the High Council of Justice, and creating artificial obstacles in their work. Head of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv Pavlo Vovk, his deputy Volodymyr Keleberda, judges of this court Oleksiy Ohurtsov, Ihor Kachur, and Ihor Pohrybnychenko, as well as members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges Mykola Sirosh and Serhiy Ostapets were put on the wanted list.
On July 17, 2020, the NABU announced suspicions to Vovk, his deputy Ablov and five other judges.
In 2021, NABU detectives tried to serve the head of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv with a petition to remove him from the administrative position of head of the court, but he refused to receive it. Vovk also systematically failed to appear when summoned to the NABU. The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine ruled six times to forcefully deliver Vovk, but the suspected judge did not appear in court.
In 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law on the liquidation of Kyiv District Administrative Court and on the creation of the Kyiv City District Administrative Court.