The ECHR ordered Ukraine to pay compensation for the long detention without bail of a former judge who fatally injured a serviceman.
The European Court of Human Rights has adopted a decision in which it recognized the violation by Ukraine of the right to liberty and personal integrity of the former head of the Makariv District Court of Kyiv Region, Oleksiy Tandyr. This is mentioned in the ECHR decision.
This concerns the detention of the judge in a pre-trial detention center without setting bail. Oleksiy Tandyr was accused of fatally injuring a National Guard serviceman at a checkpoint while intoxicated.
The court found that Tandyr’s detention for more than two and a half years without a proper analysis of the possibility of applying other preventive measures contradicts the requirements of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The document states that Ukrainian courts, when deciding to extend the arrest, limited themselves to standard formulations regarding the risks of flight, influencing witnesses or obstructing criminal proceedings, without substantiating them with specific circumstances.
The ECHR also drew attention to the lack of real consideration of alternative measures of procedural coercion, in particular bail, house arrest or other forms of restriction of liberty that do not involve detention in a pre-trial detention center.
As a result, the court ordered the state of Ukraine to pay Oleksiy Tandyr 2,100 euros as compensation for moral damage, as well as 250 euros to reimburse the costs associated with the trial.
Road accident involving Tandyr occurred on the night of May 26, 2023 at the entrance to Kyiv from the Zhytomyr side. According to the investigation, a car driven by the head of the Makariv District Court ran over a National Guard serviceman who was on duty at a checkpoint. The serviceman died on the spot from his injuries. The deceased was conscript Vadym Bondarenko, a native of Cherkasy region.
After the accident, Tandyr refused to undergo a test for alcohol and narcotic substances, in connection with which the court granted permission for the forced removal of biological samples at the request of the prosecutor’s office. On the same day, he was suspected of committing a fatal road accident while intoxicated. The State Bureau of Investigation reported on the necessary examinations and the prosecutor’s office’s appeal to the High Council of Justice to grant consent to keep the judge in custody.
On May 27, 2023, the court chose a preventive measure for Tandyr in the form of arrest without the right to post bail, which was subsequently repeatedly extended. In July of the same year, the SBI stated that the results of the forensic psychological examination confirmed that the judge was in a state of alcoholic intoxication at the time of the crash. In August 2023, the pre-trial investigation was completed, and the indictment was submitted to the court.
In September 2023, the wife of the deceased serviceman filed a civil lawsuit, demanding to recover 40 million hryvnias in material damages from Tandyr. During the hearing of the case in the Svyatoshynskyi District Court of Kyiv, the deceased’s father also stated separate financial claims against the accused.
During the court hearing in April 2024, Tandyr’s defense requested his release from custody for military service. In August 2024, the High Council of Justice adopted a decision to dismiss Oleksiy Tandyr from the position of judge of the Makarivskyi District Court of Kyiv Region.
