“Over the past five years, about 22% of the drunk driving of Ukrainians have escaped punishment. Source: NGL.Media Study Details: A lot of accidents causes intoxication every year. According to the patrol police, in 2024 drunk drivers caused a thousand road accidents, which died 110 people, and more than 1,300 were injured.”, – WRITE: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: NGL.Media research
Details: Many accidents cause intoxication every year. According to the patrol police, in 2024 drunk drivers caused a thousand road accidents, which died 110 people, and more than 1,300 were injured.
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Driving driving remains one of the most common administrative violations. For example, only last year did the Ukrainian courts hear more than 167 thousand such cases. And the further, the more the problem is exacerbated – in the last six years the number of confirmed cases of drunk driving has increased by 50%.
The analysis of court decisions over the last five years shows that about 22% of the accused of drunk driving avoids punishment – neither fines nor deprivation of the driver’s license. At the same time, journalists managed to identify judges who justify literally hundreds of such drivers.
To increase – click on the imageOver the last ten years, punishment for drunken driving has been harder twice – in 2016 and 2021. Now the minimum punishment provides not only a fine of 17 thousand UAH, but also mandatory deprivation of rights for one year. Repeated violations during the year are threatened with deprivation of rights for three or and ten years.
It is the threat of losing the ability to take the driving at all that makes such drivers look for a way to avoid punishment.
Two basic grounds for closing cases under Art. 130 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is the expiration of the case (one year from the moment of violation) or the absence of an event and the composition of the violation.
The first method was popular by March 2021, when the terms of consideration were extended from three months to a year. After that, cases of closure for this reason have become few.
Instead, for four years in a row, the most popular option remains the closure of the case due to the lack of a violation. In this case, the judges close cases, as a rule, because of the errors found in the materials submitted by law enforcement. The subjectivity of the judge’s decision is almost unlimited.
For example, in Skvyra in the Kyiv region, Judge Alexander Kovalenko closed the case of drunk driving because he decided that he was provided with a video from the bodybuilding of the patrolman, not the original. Instead, in Zhovkva, Judge Marian Oleshchuk in the same case fined the driver. In general, journalists found hundreds of resolutions in which the judges took into account copies of video recordings from Bodicamers as full evidence.
The absolute record holder among Ukrainian judges, which hear cases under Art. 130 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, yes NGL.Media, is the head of the October District Court of Dnipro Vadim Goncharenko. Over the past five years, he has considered 3644 cases of driving driving, averaged three cases a day – twice as much as the next judge on this indicator.
Judge Goncharenko is not only the number of cases considered, but also by unusual condescension to the accused in drunk driving. During the analyzed period, he closed 3035 cases – more than 83% of all he considered.
Judge Goncharenko himself refused to speak with ngl.Media.
It is possible to influence such judges, in particular complaints about their decisions are considered by the High Council of Justice.
According to a member of the High Council of Justice, Roman Maselka, anyone can file a complaint with a judge-regardless of whether at least there is some relationship with the case. The GRP can be released by a judge, but in case of violations when hearing drunken driving cases, it is mainly about warning or reprimand.
The Public Integrity Council at the CCCC checks and the Judges. This is usually the case during qualifying or vacancies.
“However, the GRP often delayed the consideration of such judges and, as a result, allows them to resign (which provides for the payment of severance pay and receiving a judicial pension),” – explains the member of this council Svetlana Ilnitskaya. In total, more than UAH 5 billion was spent on retired retired judges in 2024.