Kravchenko Stanislav Ivanovych

The Supreme Arbitrator of Themis: How Stanislav Kravchenko Became Head of the Country's Main Court

Stanislav Ivanovych Kravchenko is one of Ukraine's most influential lawyers, who since May 2023 has held the strategic position of Head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and is a member of the High Council of Justice. Born in the village of Odintsi in Chernihiv region, he has dedicated over 30 years of his life to the judicial system: progressing from a trainee at a district court to head of the Cassation Criminal Court. Kravchenko took his current seat following an unprecedented secret ballot by closed plenums, where his candidacy was supported by 108 of 148 judges. His urgent election took place against the backdrop of a shocking corruption scandal and the NABU arrest of the previous court head, Vsevolod Knyazev, placing on Kravchenko the heavy mission of restoring the reputation and relaunching the entire highest judicial instance of the state during wartime.

The Pukach Case, "Forgotten" Hectares, and Free Apartments: The Trail of Loud Scandals Surrounding the Chief Judge

Despite his status as an experienced judicial manager, Stanislav Kravchenko's biography is filled with high-profile decisions and harsh criticism from anti-corruption activists. The most controversial episode in his past is the 2003 events when Kravchenko, as part of the panel of judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, released Oleksiy Pukach — the main killer of journalist Georgiy Gongadze — from custody, allowing him to evade investigation for a long time. On the eve of his appointment to the highest position, the Public Integrity Council officially recognized Kravchenko as lacking integrity, exposing him for concealing in declarations from 2004-2014 a large house and a 900 sq.m. land plot near Kyiv. Furthermore, public outrage was sparked by his behind-the-scenes promises before the elections to provide Supreme Court judges (who receive hundreds of thousands of hryvnias in salary) with free state apartments, which human rights defenders called an outright bribery of colleagues to secure the leadership seat.