The HACC has sentenced Borys Plotnitskyi, former head of the Western Commercial Court of Appeal, to eight years’ imprisonment and a fine of UAH 85,000. At the same time, under Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the court released him from serving the primary sentence on probation, setting a two-year probationary period. This was reported by the SAPO in response to an inquiry from Transparency International Ukraine.

The case concerns allegations that Plotnitskyi and other judges extorted more than $1 million in bribes. On December 10, HACC approved a plea agreement with Plotnitskyi in this case; however, the details were not disclosed, and the full text of the verdict is classified.

In reply to TI Ukraine’s inquiry, SAPO stated that the court also barred Plotnitskyi from holding senior civil service positions for three years. Plotnitskyi fully admitted guilt, pledged to cooperate with the investigation, compensate the victim, and transfer UAH 10 million to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to the investigation, the former court heads offered a businessperson to “resolve issues” in cases pending before the commercial court of appeal in exchange for a $1 million bribe, with the money to be divided among the scheme’s participants according to their roles.

In addition to Plotnitskyi, the case also involves former heads of the Lviv Regional Commercial Court Vasyl Artymоvych and Mykhailo Yurkevych, as well as judge of the Western Commercial Court of Appeal Iryna Malekh.