Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) yesterday detained the chair of the country’s Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev, reported RT, based upon accounts of local Ukrainian media. NABU had posted on Facebook last night that it had “uncovered large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court, namely a scheme that allowed the leadership and judges to receive illicit profit,” and that details would be provided in due course. This morning NABU announced a mid-day press conference to explain the crisis in the judiciary, but apparently it was not held.
Ukraine’s Supreme Court stated on Facebook that, “in light of what is happening around Supreme Court chair Knyazev, an extraordinary meeting of the Supreme Court’s plenum will take place on May 16, 2023.” That did occur, and the unusual session quickly voted 140-2 for ‘no confidence’ in their head, Vsevolod Knyazev, and 137-5 to end his chairmanship. Rather than wait to fill the vacancy of the “deputy chair,” so as to legally conduct a session, the body evidently just left it to the longest-serving judge, Dmytro Luspenyk, to assume control.