Competition for the court that will replace OASK: one of the candidates is a judge from Dnipro who knows almost nothing...

Competition for the court that will replace OASK: one of the candidates is a judge from Dnipro who knows almost nothing about his parents’ business in Crimea

Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court judge Andriy Ryshchenko is also applying for the position of judge at the newly established Specialized Appellate Administrative Court — the one created to replace the scandal-ridden OASK.

📌 In November 2013, meaning at the start of the Maidan, Ryshchenko banned peaceful assemblies on European Square in Dnipro. An investigation found violations in Ryshchenko’s actions, but the judge was not punished because the time limit had expired.

📌 At the interview, the judge was asked about his parents’ guesthouse in Crimea. He was not very talkative, saying only that his parents tend the garden and his father does diving.

But it is important to note that in 2014–2021 his parents spent three to five months each summer on the occupied peninsula.

Moreover, they traveled through the Russian Federation via the Belgorod–Simferopol route, i.e., outside the entry-exit checkpoints established by Ukraine.

Ryshchenko said he last went to Crimea in 2012, when the guesthouse had not yet been finished. He claims he only learned at the interview that his parents rented rooms to vacationers.

But public records indicate the guesthouse was operating at least until 2021. Reviews mention owners whose names match the names of the judge’s parents.

Ryshchenko sees his parents several times a week and leaves his grandson with them every week. Yet despite this close contact, the judge wants to convince that he knows nothing about his parents’ business in Crimea.

How was this business organized after the occupation? In whose name was it registered, was it re-registered under Russian rules, did it receive Russian tax identification numbers, did it pay taxes? Did the parents acquire Russian citizenship?

Also interesting is how the guesthouse was completed and outfitted if the parents’ official incomes are quite modest. But instead Ryshchenko talked about the garden and diving.

📌 The interview also discussed Ryshchenko’s use of the court registry in 2016 to search for information about colleagues, himself, and his father — in particular by date of birth and mobile phone number. It’s curious how these searches related to performing judicial duties.

In summary. There are questions about how independent such a judge would be. And whether the unresolved circumstances of his family’s business in occupied Crimea could become a lever of pressure from law enforcement agencies.

What do you think of the candidate?