Ukraine's Supreme Court chairman comments on French court's refusal to extradite Zhevago

He commented at Ukrinform's request on a French court ruling not to extradite businessman Kostiantyn Zhevago to Ukraine as the country is allegedly not capable of ensuring a transparent trial in connection with the war.

"Ukraine's judicial system did not stop its work during the full-scale invasion by Russian troops of the sovereign territory of Ukraine. Ukrainian courts continue to consider all categories of court cases - criminal, civil, administrative, economic - at the proper level. Courts located in territories where hostilities are not ongoing conduct proceedings in a normal manner, taking into account the restrictions caused by security measures during air raid alerts," he said.

According to Kniaziev, almost 600 courts are operating in Ukraine, or 78% of their total number. At the same time, the work of 83 courts located in the temporarily occupied territory or in areas where active hostilities are taking place has been suspended. Cases subject to them are considered by other courts.

Judges from the occupied territories have also been transferred to other courts, Kniaziev said.

According to him, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukrainian courts have considered more than 2.5 million cases and more than 6 million judgments have been issued, of which about 23% are judgments in criminal cases. At the same time, only 10% of the rulings issued by the courts of first instance were challenged at the courts of appeal. Only 2.5% of court decisions were appealed at the courts of cassation.

"Nine out of ten court rulings are not appealed either in the appeal or cassation procedure. Therefore, in my opinion, thanks to the persistent and coordinated work of judges and employees of courts, justice in Ukraine during wartime is carried out efficiently and at the proper level, despite the objective difficulties caused by Russian aggression. Therefore, it is quite obvious that in the current conditions, Ukraine is capable of ensuring a fair trial for all its citizens," Kniaziev said.

The investigating chamber of the Chambery Court of Appeal (France) earlier ruled not to extradite businessman and former MP Kostiantyn Zhevago to Ukraine. He is accused of embezzling $113 million from JSC Bank Finance and Credit.

According to Le Dauphine, the court believes that Ukraine, which is in a state of war, will not be able to ensure a transparent trial in the businessman's case.

Ukraine issued an arrest warrant for Zhevago in 2019, and an international arrest warrant was issued in 2021.

Zhevago denies any wrongdoing.

On December 27, 2022, at the request of Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation, French law enforcement officers detained Zhevago at the luxury ski resort of Courchevel (France).

The SBI said that as part of the investigation in criminal proceedings, Zhevago and the bank's top managers are charged with embezzling $113 million.

In January 2023, a court in the city of Chambery decided to release Zhevago on EUR 1 million bail until the hearing of the case on his extradition to Ukraine.

To date, the property of the suspected oligarch has been seized, including shares of his enterprises worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias, corporate rights of companies, and 26 real estate objects. The property of other legal entities related to the ex-deputy was also seized.