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Supreme judge “Dredd” Ivan Mishchenko
Ukrainian Supreme Court Judge Ivan Mishchenko left his job and joined Kyiv’s armed resistance, taking up a machine gun. Many legal sector media such as Above the Law, Law Gazette, and LegalCheek wrote about him. In Ukraine, he is now called “Judge Dredd”.
Translated by Olya Panchenko. Proofreading by Conal Campbell.
If you want to help Ivan and all Ukrainian lawyers to defend our country, please donate us at INDIEGOGO.
Here are comments from Judge Dredd, which our colleagues from “Graty” recorded. If, after reading the text, you would want to help Ivan somehow, below you can find details for donating to the Society of Dead Lawyers.
“It makes no difference who is a lawyer, who is a prosecutor, who is a judge, we are all united.” Ivan Mishchenko, the Supreme Court Judge, who took up arms
Like any other system, the judicial system is trying to adapt and work under martial law. To do this, the leadership of the Supreme Court initiated urgent bills so that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court could determine the courts that should work. If a court ceases to function, then the court closest to it must work, and this must be determined either by the Head of the Supreme Court or by the High Council of Justice on the recommendation of one of these courts. I know that many judges of the first instance continue to work. This is especially important in criminal proceedings: to resolve issues of detention, release, extension of the period of detention, and the like. But I heard an interview by Larisa Holnik [Judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Poltava] that people continue to come even to hearings on divorce, alimony, and so on. That is, despite the war, people are also trying to resolve some everyday issues, and the courts are more or less working.
Everyone in their place does what they can, what is needed to win. I decided that I would be more useful here [in the defense forces]. Something like that.
Thank God my family is safe. I personally never wanted to leave. I secured my family and returned to Kyiv, bringing humanitarian aid: medicine, clothes, food, but no weapons. And now I am here, in Kyiv.
Once, as far as I could, I participated in the Maidan democratic revolution. In general, the judicial reform that began on the Maidan and the fact that I ended up in the Supreme Court is a logical continuation of what happened during the Maidan revolution.
It is difficult for me to comment on [the decision to mobilize prisoners who are released on the condition that they will fight against Russian troops] because criminal law is not my speciality, it is better to turn to someone who understands this better. But, as far as I know, there were meetings of the Head of the Supreme Court, the Head of the Criminal Court of Cassation, together with the Prosecutor General, with the Minister of Justice, and this issue was carefully worked out. How to do it right — conditionally release, under what conditions, and so on. This issue has been discussed and prepared.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly appealed to its colleagues in the Supreme Courts of foreign countries with a request for help and with a request for assistance against Russian aggression. The European Court of Human Rights has already banned the Russian Federation from taking aggressive actions against the civilian population and civilian infrastructure. And it introduced these measures only in relation to one side, in relation to the Russian Federation — this is generally the first time in history. As far as I know, the Supreme Court of Poland is now helping us get the bulletproof vests that they bought, they are either at the border or have already crossed the border. In other words, we are working on this international front as well.
There are a lot of ideas for fixing war crimes; this information is being worked out, systematized, and evidence is being collected. But besides this, we are starting to work towards the confiscation of the assets of the Russian Federation both on the territory of Ukraine and abroad to restore somehow what they have done here. Therefore, we are now thinking about how to do it, in what jurisdictions. The most successful design is a class action lawsuit. That is a class-action lawsuit in the jurisdiction where there are assets of the Russian Federation or [Russian] oligarchs. There are two main directions in order to withdraw funds and send them here, both to the budget and to people affected by Russian aggression.
In peacetime, we were engaged in the reform of the High Qualifications Commission of Judges — this is the body that hires judges. Unfortunately, this body did not work for almost three years, there was no recruitment of new judges, and there was a huge deficit in the system. That is, about 2,500 judges were missing, which is one reason why the cases dragged on for so long. There just weren’t enough judges. This is natural because judges who have reached a certain age, or for health reasons, or for other reasons, retired. The number of judges decreased, and there were no new opportunities to recruit because the High Qualifications Commission of Judges is not working. And I, along with Ukrainian judges and foreign colleagues, was a member of the commission, which was supposed to select new members of the Commission, who, in turn, would recruit new judges. I think that we will definitely continue our work when we win. But all these procedures will need to be reduced as much as possible so that the system gets new judges as soon as possible, who will be able to work effectively and solve all the problems that we will have after the victory.
And now, I think, there is no difference — who is a lawyer, who is a prosecutor, who is a judge, who is an ordinary citizen — we are all united for the sake of victory and in order to stop the aggressor. We will deal with the issues of withdrawals and self-withdrawals already in peacetime.
On the one hand, I want to say that the judicial system works even in such difficult conditions in which we find ourselves. Many judges and employees of the court apparatus have joined both the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense forces, other formations and are defending Ukraine with weapons in their hands. But those judges who carry out court proceedings or look for ways to solve problems perform an essential function. I am grateful to them for this. I am proud of my colleagues. They are great!
If you want to help Ivan and all Ukrainian lawyers to defend our country, please donate us at INDIEGOGO.
