Stanislav Kravchenko elected as Supreme Court chief justice

The vote was cast by 108 judges out of 148 present at the extraordinary plenary session, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Kravchenko was elected chairman of the Supreme Court for a term of four years.

Before that, the plenary approved the list of candidates, according to which four judges of the Supreme Court were running for the post of the Supreme Court's chief justice: Albert Yezerov, Ivan Mischenko, Stanislav Kravchenko and Natalia Kovalenko. After the list of candidates for the post of Supreme Court chief justice was approved by a vote of the judges, each of the candidates made a speech about his or her program.

Kravchenko informed, in particular, about his experience as a judge and in an administrative position. "I will make all serious decisions as the head of the court only after detailed consultations with other heads of cassation courts," he said.

After that, a vote was held, according to which Kravchenko received the most votes - 108. The audience cast 14 votes for Judge Mishchenko, 13 for Kovalenko, and 2 for Yezerov.

As reported, on May 15, the NABU and the SAPO announced the exposure of a scheme to obtain illegal benefits by the leadership and judges of the Supreme Court. Law enforcement officers detained Chief Justice Kniaziev and seized $2.7 million.

On May 16, during a plenary session of the Supreme Court, 140 judges supported a vote of no confidence in Kniaziev. The judges also adopted a resolution of the Supreme Court plenum to terminate Kniaziev's powers.

On May 17, the High Anti-Corruption Court refused to satisfy the complaint of Kniaziev's defense against his detention.

On May 18, the High Council of Justice granted the request of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office to allow Kniaziev to be held in custody.

On the same day, the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed on him a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with the possibility of posting UAH 107.3 million bail.

For reference: Stanislav Kravchenko was born on March 5, 1967 in the village of Odyntsi, Kozelets district, Chernihiv region.

In 1991, he graduated from the Dzerzhynskyi Ukrainian Law Academy with a law degree (now Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University).

After graduation, in 1992-1993, he began working as an intern for a judge of the Kozelets District Court. Then he worked there as a judge for ten years, and from 2002 to 2011 he was a judge of the Kyiv Court of Appeal.

In 2011, Kravchenko was elected to the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases. After the Revolution of Dignity, on April 23, 2014, Kravchenko was appointed deputy chairman of this court.

In 2017, he passed the competition to the newly created Supreme Court, where he headed its subdivision, the Criminal Court of Cassation.

He has been a member of the Legal Reform Commission since August 7, 2019.

It is worth noting that in 2017, the Public Integrity Council concluded that Kravchenko, a candidate for the position of Supreme Court judge, did not meet the criteria of integrity and professional ethics.

The reason for this was the reporting of false information in the integrity declaration regarding participation in decision-making in violation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as the alleged failure to declare a 900-square-meter land plot in the city of Kozelets.