The HACC found Volodymyr Honchar, a judge of the Kropyvnytskyi Court of Appeal, guilty of soliciting and receiving an $8,000 bribe. In exchange, he promised to influence a panel of judges so that the person responsible for a fatal road crash would receive a suspended sentence rather than serve actual prison time.

According to investigators, in May 2023, through an intermediary, representatives of a person convicted of causing a fatal traffic accident approached Judge Honchar while the case was pending on appeal. The judge asked for a cash payment, promising that he would influence the panel to uphold the first-instance judgment, which granted release from serving the sentence subject to probation (a probationary period).

Initially, the amount discussed was $3,000, but the judge’s demands later increased. During subsequent negotiations, he required $8,000 for his “cooperation.” The money was transferred in installments. Investigators documented a series of meetings and phone calls in which the defendant and alleged accomplices discussed the terms using coded language. In particular, they referred to “a share,” “a hundred,” and “a land plot,” which investigators said were code words for thousands of US dollars.

During Honchar’s detention and subsequent searches, law enforcement officers seized some of the marked bills. Despite the documented evidence, Honchar did not plead guilty in court. The defense argued that the conversations were ordinary, informal exchanges and that law enforcement had provoked the offense. Honchar claimed the conversations were casual and took place while drinking alcohol, and that he did not remember parts of them. However, after reviewing covert investigative recordings and witness testimony, the court concluded that the judge’s guilt was proven beyond doubt.

Honchar’s actions were classified under Article 368(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In closing arguments, Honchar again denied guilt and maintained that all conversations recorded during covert investigative actions were merely everyday talk.

On January 12, 2026, the HACC sentenced Honchar to:

• 6 years and 6 months’ imprisonment;
• a 3-year ban on holding positions within the justice system (including judge, prosecutor, or attorney);
• confiscation of all property he owns.

The court found no aggravating or mitigating circumstances.

The case drew public attention because of the defendant’s position and the cynical nature of the alleged bribe: it effectively involved “trading” a judgment in a case where a person had died.

The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.