Criminal case against investigative journalist for revealing Russian passport of judge closed
A criminal case launched against a journalist from the U.S.-funded Radio Liberty’s Skhemy project has been dropped following a “lack of evidence”, Skhemy reported on Telegram on July 27.
The case against Skhemy journalist Heorhii
Shabayev was initially opened after Skhemy published an article revealing that
Judge Liudmyla Arestova of the Donetsk District Administrative Court currently
holds Russian citizenship.
They based their findings on extracts from
the automated Russian passport system (Rospasport), indicating that the judge
obtained her Russian passport in 2014 under the so-called “Treaty on the
Accession of Crimea to Russia.” This treaty granted Russian citizenship to
Ukrainian citizens and stateless individuals who were permanent residents in
Crimea at the time of its annexation.
Skhemy’s report also revealed that from
2018 to January 2022, the judge visited the occupied Crimea, spending a total
of 255 days there.
Following the publication of the article,
the Slovyansk District Prosecutor’s Office launched a criminal investigation
against Shabayev, alleging possible interference in Arestova’s judicial
activities.
Arestova reported the alleged “interference
in the administration of justice with the aim of discrediting her” to the
Higher Judicial Council and the Office of the Prosecutor General. She accused
Shabayev of actively collaborating with Russia during the war and transferring
gathered information to the Russian special services. Additionally, she accused
him of engaging in unlawful surveillance to discredit her as a judge.
On July 27, investigators from the National
Police in Slovyansk summoned Shabayev for questioning in connection with the
case.
Meanwhile, the journalists behind the
investigation claim to have found further evidence of Judge Arestova’s use of
her Russian passport by referencing the database of Russian flight records.
According to their findings, after the Russian occupation of Crimea in May
2014, the judge traveled to Moscow and used her Russian passport for these
flights.
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