Judge punished for handling child abuse case: Supreme Court finds a number of violations

The Third Disciplinary Chamber of the High Council of Justice has brought Judge Hanna Gulyaeva to disciplinary responsibility for considering a case related to hooliganism against a minor. The HRC found that the judge failed to examine the attached video recording, did not inform the victim and his legal representative about the meeting, and did not respond appropriately to possible signs of a criminal offense.

This is Judge Hanna Gulyaeva of the Boriv District Court of Kharkiv Region, who was seconded to the Koteliv District Court of Poltava Region.

As a result of the disciplinary proceedings, she was given a warning.

What happened

The case concerned events that occurred in mid-June 2024 on the Musiyka beach on the Vorskla River near Koteliv.

According to the materials of the administrative case, a minor boy committed hooligan acts against another minor: he insulted her, forced her to undress, and humiliated her honor and dignity.

Since the boy had not reached the age of administrative responsibility, the police officer drew up a report against his mother under Part One of Article 184 of the Code of Administrative Offenses – evasion of parents from fulfilling their obligations stipulated by law.

On August 7, 2024, the case was submitted to the Kotelevsky District Court and was considered on the same day by Judge Gulyaeva.

The boy’s mother was found guilty and fined 850 hryvnias.

The video recording was left without proper assessment

Disciplinary proceedings were opened based on a complaint by a representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights in the Poltava region.

After reviewing the materials of the case, the representative of the Ombudsman drew attention to the video recording of the incident.

According to the complainant, the recording contained circumstances that could indicate signs of criminal offenses. However, it was not apparent from the court decision that the judge had properly examined the video and assessed the actions recorded on it.

After public outcry and the Commissioner’s intervention, law enforcement officers entered information about the event into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations.

The victim and his representative were not notified of the trial

Another violation was that the minor victim and his legal representative were not notified of the date and time of the administrative case hearing.

Only the mother of the other minor participated in the hearing.

A copy of the resolution was also not handed over to or sent to the victim and his representative.

As a result, they were effectively unable to exercise their procedural rights provided for by law, including the opportunity to participate in the hearing and appeal the court decision.

The High Court of Justice found significant violations

The Third Disciplinary Chamber concluded that the judge did not properly assess the contradictions between the administrative protocol, other case materials, and the video recording.

The judge also failed to take the measures provided for by law in the presence of circumstances that could indicate a criminal offense.

Member of the Third High Court of Justice Dmytro Krupoderya emphasized that the judge should have assessed the presence or absence of signs of a criminal offense and reacted accordingly.

According to the chamber’s conclusion, the inaction led to the fact that a fair trial was not ensured for the minor victim, and the persons involved in the relevant actions could potentially avoid due responsibility.

The inspector proposed closing the disciplinary case

At the same time, positions on the judge’s responsibility diverged.

The disciplinary inspector proposed to refuse to bring Hanna Gulyaeva to disciplinary liability and to terminate the proceedings.

However, the Third Disciplinary Chamber did not support this conclusion and agreed with the proposal of the chamber member Dmytro Krupodera.

As a result, the Supreme Judicial Council decided to bring Judge Hanna Gulyaeva to disciplinary liability and issue her a warning.