Lukyanov Dmytro Vasylovych

Deputy Chairperson of the High Council of Justice, and for one month at the beginning of 2025 — Acting Chairperson. A rare case when someone joins the Council of Judicial Integrity not from the courtroom but directly from a university department.

Legal scholar, Doctor of Law, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine. Born in 1975 in the city of Gorky — now Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation (yes, geography sometimes adds a touch of intrigue — although it was Soviet times). Graduated with honors from Kharkiv Law Academy and built an academic career at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University. In August 2022, the congress of legal higher education institutions brought him into the High Council of Justice, and by February 2023, he was already Deputy Chairperson. Books, editorial boards, distinctions — all solid credentials. The question is rather who exactly brought him there.

Disciple, protégé, and a bit of "mutual assurance"

At the nomination stage, DEJURE, the Center for Public Integrity and AutoMaidan had significant concerns about Lukyanov's integrity. He is called a protégé of Oleksandr Petryshyn (Chairperson of the National Academy of Legal Sciences) — the very same person whom Lukyanov, according to journalists, previously promoted to the Constitutional Court. A mutual exchange of favors? And already in the High Council of Justice, this story plays out in a family format: Lukyanov's wife, Hanna Ponomaryova, won a competition to the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal — at a time when her husband sits on the body that oversees these competitions. A coincidence, of course. Moreover, his name is among the six members of the High Council of Justice who voted for the appointment of Judge Raimov, around whom journalists have developed a story involving a "Russian trace." There are no official suspicions or proceedings against Lukyanov himself in open sources — but the scent of clan interests is noticeable even through his academic credentials.