“Anomalies” in autodistribution: Portnov’s cases “accidentally” ended up with the right judges
Фото: Reuters
During the assignment of judges in Portnov’s cases, suspicious anomalies were discovered in the Pechersk court, which narrowed the circle of judges and helped select the “right ones.”
This was reported in the “Schemes” project.
“In the Pechersk District Court, during the automatic distribution of several cases on the claims of the former Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, the specialization was incorrectly determined, which affected the choice of judges who can consider such cases,” the journalists note.
“Scheme” journalists drew attention to the fact that in August 2023, during the automatic distribution of cases between judges, Andriy Portnov’s lawsuit against the NGO “Anti-Corruption Center”, the publications “Focus” and “Ukrainian Truth” was classified as “Civil cases on divorce and collection of alimony.”
Portnov sued over the publication of an article about not imposing sanctions on him. He believed that “inaccurate information” about his pro-Russian actions was being spread.
As a result of this classification, 22 judges were excluded from autodistribution due to “lack of specialization”, other judges – due to vacation or lack of authority.
As a result, only three judges with specialization in handling cases remained. Using a random number algorithm, the system identified Judge Serhiy Vovk, who later granted Portnov’s claim.
The judge himself, when asked by journalists, said that he did not know “how this could have happened.”
Olena Shcherban, a lawyer for the “Anti-Corruption Center”, noted in a comment for “Schemes”: “Cases related to the “CPC” with Vitaliy Shabunin especially often ended up before judge Serhiy Vovk. In this particular case, we consider this as the story of a certain scheme, which, according to our observations, operates in the Pechersk court. In our opinion, the judge should have seen that the category of the case was incorrectly set, and he should have raised the question of re-allocation of the car.”
In 2024, another automated distribution of the court case in the Pechersk District Court on Portnov’s lawsuit against the NGO “Rukh Chesno” and the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption showed “anomalies.”
Portnov contested his inclusion in the “Register of Traitors”, which is maintained by the “Honest Movement”, considering it untrue.
The case was classified as “prescribed proceedings.” As a result, 20 judges were excluded from the auto-allocation.
“A case concerning the protection of honor and dignity was unreasonably classified as “prescriptive proceedings” – these are completely different areas of law. Such a classification again narrows the circle of judges considering the case and creates risks of manipulation. In my opinion, this may contain signs of interference in electronic automatic systems,” commented lawyer Olena Shcherban.
It was previously reported that on May 21, 2025 , former advisor to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, was shot dead near Madrid.
It should be noted that Andriy Portnov was the main coordinator of the authorities in criminal cases against Petro Poroshenko through the security forces and judges under his control.