The High Council of Public Justice (HCPJ) has refused to grant the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) permission to arrest the Higher Economic Court’s former head Viktor Tatkov in absentia.
This was announced by the High Council of Public Justice’s chairperson Volodymyr Hovorukha, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
He announced the HCPJ’s decision to return the request to authorize arrest of Tatkov in absentia to the PGO.
The Prosecutor General’s Office asked the High Council of Public Justice to approve this request because the judge cannot be arrested in absentia and, accordingly, extradited from Austria, without the council’s permission.
Tatkov's lawyer Pavlo Popkov asked the HCPJ to reject the request from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
According to Popkov, the former head of the Higher Economic Court is not hiding in Austria but undergoing treatment there since 2016.
The lawyer said that the judge underwent two surgical operations in 2018 and that he could not travel to Ukraine because he was forbidden to travel by air.
According to the lawyer, Tatkov is cooperating with Ukrainian investigators within the framework of international legal assistance, but he denies criminal allegations against him.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Prosecutor General’s Office has served Tatkov with notification of suspicion of creating a criminal organization.
Previously, Tatkov refused voluntary extradition to Ukraine and applied for political asylum in Austria.
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