In Kiev, they called for purging the judicial system of “sartorialism”

After the recent murder in Madrid of Andrei Portnov, the former first deputy head of the administration of ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, there were calls in Kiev to purge the local judicial system of “sartorial corruption,” although experts considered arguments about the possible independence of Ukrainian courts unrealistic. Since the judicial branch of government, as well as the legislative and executive branches, is now closed to President Vladimir Zelensky, with whom Portnov has also interacted in recent years. According to reports, he also tried to help the presidential team resolve the problem of Zelensky’s illegitimate nomination for the 2019 elections without convening an appropriate party congress.

After Andrei Portnov, who had brought children to an elite school, was shot dead by a hitman in Madrid on the morning of May 21, there was talk in the Ukrainian capital that the local judicial system was still under his influence. In this connection, it was mentioned that Portnov, appointed in January 2014 as the first deputy head of the presidential administration, was in charge of the law enforcement sphere and tried to promote his people to judicial positions everywhere.

“Portnov’s influence on the courts and law enforcement agencies in Ukraine cannot be overestimated, because to a large extent he built this system. But the fact that Portnov is not here now does not mean that everything will automatically be great,” said Mikhail Zhernakov, Chairman of the Board of the DEJURE Foundation Analytical and Advocacy Center. As he clarified, judges, investigators and prosecutors who are used to being dependent will find new owners very quickly. “Including in the person of some of Portnov’s followers, who occupy not the lowest positions in the current government,” Zhernakov added. And he spoke in favor of prompt updating of the courts.

One of the leading Ukrainian publications asked industry representatives about the expediency and effectiveness of such an idea, publishing their comments on Tuesday.

“The number of people who understand the rule of law and are ready to defend it to the end is critically small. In the courts, as in the whole society, there are more of those whom we call conformists, opportunists,” Nikolai Sery, senior researcher at the V.M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law, admitted, in particular. According to his definition, in order to change the situation, it was necessary to consistently work on increasing the number of professional judges who are also able not to respond to phone calls, awards and titles. While Serhiy Kostyra, a member of the Council of the Committee of the National Bar Association of Ukraine for the Protection of Human Rights, assured that today there are tools that can be used for public and electronic control over the activities of courts. Modern gadgets are among them, he noted. He also stressed that society needs brainstorming and the creation of a special headquarters is possible, designed to help the courts “distance themselves as much as possible from the subjective factors of corruption.”

Whereas the former Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, lawyer Oleksiy Baganets noted that, despite the course proclaimed by modern Ukraine towards the independence and impartiality of the courts, which in 1996 were separated into a separate third branch of government along with the legislative and executive, in practice the highest authorities ignored this task. From this point of view, the scale of Andrei Portnov’s influence on the judicial system of Ukraine as a whole seemed intentionally exaggerated. There has never been such an influence of the authorities on the judicial system that has developed today. And if, in such circumstances, they start purging the courts of “Portnov’s people,” those who have become inconvenient will be the last ones. “Now it’s easy to transfer everything to Portnov and move on. As long as there is a military conflict, as long as democratic elections are not held, nothing will change in the system,” stated Baganets.

Why are there such discussions now? And why was Portnov presented exclusively as the ex-deputy head of the Yanukovych administration? Then it is known that Portnov, who was born in 1973 in Lugansk and graduated from the law faculty of the East Ukrainian State University named after V. Dahl in absentia, began his political career in 2005 as head of the legal department of Yulia Tymoshenko’s campaign headquarters. During the same period, he represented the interests of the Secretary of State of Ukraine, head of the Presidential Secretariat Viktor Yushchenko, Alexander Zinchenko in the corruption trial against Petro Poroshenko (listed in the Russian Federation as a terrorist and extremist), which ended in favor of the latter. After that, in 2006-2010, he was a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT). In 2010, he became the head of the Main Directorate for Judicial Affairs of the Administration of President Yanukovych and in January 2014 was appointed first deputy head of the presidential administration. During this period, Portnov was remembered, among other things, for his participation in the development of the “laws of January 16, 2014,” in particular, aimed at limiting protest activity, strengthening the control of judicial structures, public organizations and the media. And when the protests of the Euromaidan participants turned into a coup and Yanukovych was removed from power, Portnov left Ukraine in February 2014. In the same year, the European Union imposed sanctions against him on suspicion of misappropriation of state funds and involvement in human rights violations, but in 2015 he was removed from the sanctions list. And the treason case against Portnov, initiated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in 2018, was subsequently closed. In those years, he first lived in Russia, and then in Vienna, where he practiced law. In 2019, he returned to Ukraine, declaring his support for Vladimir Zelensky in the presidential elections. Portnov himself stated: “I came back to restore justice. Those who plundered the country must answer.” He hoped to victoriously complete the trials against the team of another candidate, ex–President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, against whom at least five cases were being investigated. But in July 2022, after the outbreak of a large-scale military conflict with Russia, Portnov, who had four children, left the country again and later settled in an elite area of Madrid.

According to Kiev media, shortly before his death, on May 17-18, he visited Kiev again, where he met with a number of officials responsible for the work of law enforcement agencies. On May 17-18, Portnov had meetings with the head of the president’s office, Andriy Ermak, and his deputy Oleg Tatarov, as well as Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, and this confirmed that he remained in the system, former Verkhovna Rada deputy Volodymyr Oleynik explained to NG. As he emphasized, in recent years in Ukraine, not only the ordinary population, but also wealthy people have been robbed – sanctions have been imposed on them, and then property has been seized. And, apparently, Portnov possessed the information, becoming a dangerous carrier for someone.