“As journalists discovered, according to an extract from “Rospassport” for December 2022, Litvinova became a citizen of the Russian Federation on July 22, 2002”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“The Second Disciplinary Chamber has decided to bring the judge of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv Arina Volodymyrivna Litvinova to disciplinary responsibility and to apply disciplinary sanctions against her in the form of a motion to dismiss the judge from her position”, – said the secretary of the chamber Roman Maselko at the meeting on December 4.
According to the law, Litvinova has the right to appeal this recommendation before her dismissal by filing a complaint with the Supreme Council of Justice, which makes the final decision in the case.
On the eve of the meeting, Litvinova tried to close the disciplinary case against her. She filed a corresponding application, noting that she was already expelled from the District Administrative Court on October 31 on the same grounds – the presence of a Russian passport confirmed by the SBU – and therefore there is nothing to consider. However, she was unanimously rejected in the VRP. The VRP itself has the power to dismiss judges.
In July, it became known that the judge of the liquidated District Administrative Court of Kyiv, Arina Litvinova, herself submitted a resignation letter to the VRP. If it were approved, a judge with Russian citizenship would be able to receive judicial payments from the budget of Ukraine for life. But on July 23, the VRP stopped consideration of Litvinova’s application and started disciplinary proceedings, the result of which could be her dismissal. In this case, the judge will not be able to receive payments.
In April, Schemy published an investigation in which Litvinova was found to have obtained Russian citizenship in July 2002 in the city of Yekaterinburg. Journalists found confirmation of this in the Rospassport automated system. At that time, Litvinova had already worked at the Supreme Arbitration Court of Ukraine for three years. In response to the request of “Scheme”, the judge denied the existence of citizenship of the Russian Federation, calling the journalists’ information a “provocation”.
Subsequently, Litvinova complained to the Office of the General Prosecutor and the High Council of Justice against the journalist “Scheme” (Radio Liberty) Georgy Shabaev – she stated about “interference in her activities as a judge.” The Supreme Council of Justice issued a conclusion on May 23, which noted that the circumstances reported by the judge “do not create real risks for the judge during the administration of justice, and therefore do not contain signs that would cause the need to take measures to ensure the independence of judges and the authority of justice, cannot be regarded as exerting influence or pressure on a judge with the aim of preventing her from fulfilling her professional duties, encouraging her to adopt a certain court decision.”
As the journalists discovered, according to the extract from “Rospassport” for December 2022, Arina Litvinova became a citizen of the Russian Federation on July 22, 2002, and the passport itself was directly issued on July 24. The reason for acquiring citizenship is to replace the passport of a citizen of the USSR.
In the 2008 database of residents of Yekaterinburg, “Schemes” found information about a Russian citizen Arina Litvinova with the same date of birth as the Ukrainian judge, with the data of her Russian passport. Her place of registration in Yekaterinburg is also indicated there, which coincides with the one indicated in the excerpt from the Rospassport system, where her photo is also included.
According to the Gosuslugy portal, which provides information on the validity of documents, as of April 2024, the Russian passport in the name of Arina Litvinova is listed as invalid, since she did not replace it with a new one upon reaching her 45th birthday in 2022. But not receiving new documents does not mean the loss of Russian citizenship – the procedure for officially withdrawing from it, in accordance with the Russian federal law “On the Citizenship of the Russian Federation”, provides for a separate procedure with an appeal to the Russian authorities.
On December 13, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada voted to liquidate the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, and already in the evening of the same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the relevant law. However, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the liquidation of the court where a judge works is not a reason for the dismissal of this judge. Therefore, all 51 OASK judges, including Arina Litvinova, continue to receive judges’ remuneration. According to the judge’s declaration for the year 2023, when she did not administer justice, Litvinova received 1,629,000 hryvnias as a salary.
In general, as of November 2023, according to the Glavkom publication, judges of the liquidated OASK were awarded 65.3 million hryvnias (including taxes).
The Higher Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine has to decide the further fate of OASK judges. Its members must evaluate judges of the OASK for their suitability for the position they hold, and later issue a recommendation for appointment either to the newly formed Kyiv City District Administrative Court or to another court of first instance.