“People’s deputy of Ukraine was taken into custody in the courtroom”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
In March 2025, VAKS sentenced Hunka to seven years in prison with confiscation of all property. He was also deprived of the right to be elected to state authorities and local self-government bodies, appointed to civil service positions for a period of 3 years.
Now the appellate court rejected the prosecutor’s appeal and partially upheld the defense’s appeals. The VACS verdict was changed in terms of the legal qualification of the accused’s actions and his punishment.
“The actions of the accused have been reclassified under Part 2 of Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of influence) and he was sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment with deprivation of the right to hold positions related to the performance of the functions of a government representative for a period of 3 years. The other part of the sentence was left unchanged,” the VACS press service said in a statement.
People’s deputy of Ukraine was taken into custody in the courtroom.
The decision entered into legal force from the moment of its announcement and can be appealed to the Criminal Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court. Because of this, Gunko will lose his deputy mandate.
Anatoly Gunko has not publicly commented on the decision of the appeals court.
In August 2023, the law enforcement officers informed Anatoliy Hunka about the suspicion of receiving a bribe. At the same time, in August, Hunka was expelled from the “Servant of the People” faction.
The investigation claimed that the deputy, who at the same time was the head of the Interim Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada for the investigation of corruption at state-owned enterprises, institutions and organizations of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, incited a representative of a private enterprise to provide illegal benefits to officials of the academy and the head of a local state authority for ensuring the provision of land plots with a total area of 1,700 hectares to a private enterprise. This land was used by the state-owned enterprise of the Academy of Agrarian Sciences.
According to the investigation, the people’s deputy asked the businessman to hand over a “reward” amounting to 221,000 US dollars – at the rate of 130 US dollars for 1 hectare of state land. The People’s Deputy and two of his accomplices were exposed in the heat of the moment immediately after they received part of the agreed funds, namely 85,000 US dollars.
As reported by the Anti-Corruption Center, during the interrogation, Gunko admitted to receiving a bribe, but the defense insisted on provocation, because of which the accused committed such illegal actions.
In February 2024, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau referred the case to court.