On December 24, 2024, the HACC referred the matter of disciplinary liability for ex-MP Dmytro Kriuchkov's defense lawyer, Andrii Lisitskyi, to the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Zhytomyr Region Bar.
The decision was prompted by the lawyer's repeated failure to attend court sessions. For example, Lisitskyi was absent from both yesterday's and today's hearings, despite earlier assurances of his attendance. Yesterday, he failed to communicate until 4:30 p.m., at which point he stated that he was unlikely to attend because it was his birthday.
The repeated absence of defense lawyers in this case has become a persistent issue. Over the past month, the court has twice reported this problem to the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission. These absences have significantly delayed the proceedings, which have been stuck at the stage of judicial debates for several months. During the case proceedings at the HACC, the accused changed more than six lawyers, four of whom were appointed at the state's expense.
TI Ukraine, in its latest report monitoring the HACC's operations, highlighted that:
- HACC judges do not bring participants in the proceedings to administrative liability for contempt of court;
- the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine does not permit imposing monetary penalties on lawyers who fail to attend court sessions without valid reasons.
Therefore, we recommended that the Verkhovna Rada expand the grounds for imposing monetary penalties on participants in criminal proceedings for violating their obligations, increase the penalty amounts, and enhance the mechanism for holding individuals administratively liable for contempt of court. These changes can be achieved by finalizing draft law No. 11387, which has been adopted by the parliament as a basis.