Case description
On December 6, 2021, the HACC found Judge Olena Zhyvtsova guilty of receiving a UAH 5,000 bribe for closing proceedings against a local in a case of administrative violation. She was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison with additional penalties.
Olena Zhyvtsova is a former judge and acting head of the Kalanchak District Court in the Kherson region.
In April 2018, bus driver Anatolii Lozinskyi gave her UAH 5,000 for Zhyvtsova's decision in his favor not to bring him to administrative liability for transporting passengers without a license. In February 2018, a protocol was drawn up against Lozinskyi on the border with the temporarily occupied Crimea.
According to the investigation, Zhyvtsova said that in case of non-payment of the bribe, she would impose a UAH 17,000 fine on the man. The NABU secretly filmed the judge and exposed her when she was taking the bribe.
The actions of the former judge were qualified under Article 368, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court sentenced her to 5.5 years in prison, confiscated all her property, and banned her from holding public office for 3 years.
Appellate proceedings have been initiated in this case.
