Oleksandr Tupytskyi
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Oleksandr Mykolayovych Tupytskyi (Ukrainian: Олександр Миколайович Тупицький; born 28 January 1963), is a Ukrainian former official, lawyer, judge who had been the 12th chairman of the
Constitutional Court of Ukraine The Constitutional Court of Ukraine (, ) is the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine interprets the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of laws and other legal acts. The Court initiated its ac ...
from 2019 to 2022. On 29 December 2020, President of Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...
removed Tupytskyi from the post of Chairman of the Constitutional Court for a period of two months, but the Constitutional Court ruled the decision of the President illegal and refused to comply with the decree. The suspension was extended for a period of one month by the Decree of the President of Ukraine. At the same time, together with his wife, he has been under US visa sanctions in connection with "significant acts of corruption" and "receiving a monetary bribe while working in the Ukrainian judicial system.". On 14 May 2013, he was appointed a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine by President
Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...
. He had been the deputy chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to 2018 to 2019. He is a candidate of sciences in public administration as of 2009.Науковці України
''irbis-nbuv.gov.ua''


Biography

Oleksandr Tupytskyi was born in
Biloziria Biloziria () is a big village (''selo'') in central Ukraine. It is located in Cherkasy Raion (district) of Cherkasy Oblast (province) southwest from the city of Cherkasy. It hosts the administration of Biloziria rural hromada, one of the hromada ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
on 28 January 1963. After finishing school, he did military service. He worked as a milling machine at the
Smila Smila ( ) is a city located on Dnieper Upland near the Tyasmyn River, in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast of Ukraine. The Tiasmyn River, a tributary of the Dnieper River, flows through the city. In January 2022, the estimated population was 6 ...
radio equipment factory and the
Strommashina The Strommashina plant was built in the city of Samara during the Second World War for the purpose of supplying industries of the Soviet Union with essential technical equipment. At present, the plant manufactures equipment for the construction, ...
factory in
Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...
. He graduated from the Kharkov Law Institute. F. E. Dzerzhinsky with a degree in law in 1988. From 1988 to 1993, he was an intern at the Prosecutor's Office of Donetsk, then investigator, then promoted to senior investigator of the Prosecutor's Office of the Kuibyshev district of the city. Between 1993 and 2010, he became the judge of the Kuibyshevsky district court of Donetsk. In 2002, he became the chairman of that court. During that time, he was a member of the qualification and disciplinary commission of the bar of the
Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...
and a member of the Council of Judges of the Donetsk Oblast. In 2006, he studied in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
under the "
Open World In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the Gamer, player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda (video game ...
" program. He is a candidate of Sciences in Public Administration with a degree in Public Administration Mechanisms as of 2009, where he defended his thesis for the degree of candidate of sciences in public administration on the topic "State mechanism for improving the quality of professional training of judges" with the specialty 25.00.02 "Mechanisms of public administration" at the
Donetsk State University The Vasyl' Stus Donetsk National University ( DonNU, ; ) is one of the leading higher educational institutions of Ukraine. In 2014, due to the war in Donbas, a number of teachers and students left Donetsk and subsequently reestablished the uni ...
of Administration. In 2010 to 2013, he was elected and worked as a judge in the
Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...
,
Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
, and
Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...
Courts of Appeal. He served as chairman of the Lviv and
Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...
Courts of Appeal. On 14 May 2013, by Decree No. 256/2013, Tupytskyi was appointed a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. He took the oath on 15 May. From 2018 to 2019, he was the deputy chairman. On 17 September 2019, at a special plenary session of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Tupytskyi was elected as the Chairman of the Constitutional Court for a term of three years. On 29 October 2020, under the chairmanship of Tupytskyi, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognized a significant part of the anti-corruption reform in Ukraine as unconstitutional. The decision was harshly criticized by Ukrainian and international politicians, experts and journalists, seeing it as an attack on the fight against corruption in Ukraine. On 7 November 2020, activists of the NGO "Anti-Corruption Center" came to his house in
Vasylkiv Vasylkiv (, , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Stuhna, Stuhna River in Obukhiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast, central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Vasylkiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. First mentioned in the 10th ce ...
, registered as his mother-in-law, and, after clashes with the police, installed a gallows near the fence. In December 2020, President Zelenskyi announced that Tupytskyi could not remain in office and should resign. On 20 December, Zelenskyi signed a decree on the suspension of Tupytskyi for two months from the post of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, based on a request from the Prosecutor General's Office. The next day, the Constitutional Court declared that by doing so, "Zelensky went beyond the limits of his constitutional powers, violating the Constitution." The Office of the President of Ukraine called this statement "legally void", the General Prosecutor's Office stated that the President suspended Tupytskyi in accordance with the requirements of the law, and the position of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine was unfounded. On 19 January 2021 employees of the State Security Department did not allow Tupytskyi to enter the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and his office, after which he called the police and wrote a statement about "obstructing him in the performance of official duties." On 28 January, Tupytsky filed a lawsuit at the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, demanding to "recognize the actions of the State Security Department as illegal" and to oblige the UDO to "refrain from preventing him from accessing the territory of the Constitutional Court." On 1 February, Zelenskyi's decree on Tupytskyi's removal from office was challenged in the Supreme Court of Ukraine, but on 3 February, the Supreme Court decided to refuse to open proceedings. On 8 February, the court refused to enforce the claim, as it concluded that there were no legal grounds for this. On 26 February, by President Zelenksyy's decree, Tupytskyi was again removed from the position of judge of the Constitutional Court for one month starting from 28 February 2021. On 17 March 2021, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine was supposed to hold a special plenary meeting to consider the issue of Tupytskyi's suspension, but it did not take place because Tupytskyi himself was not allowed to enter the courthouse. On 27 March, Zelenskyi signed a decree canceling President Yanukovych's 2013 decrees on the appointment of Oleksandr Tupytskyi and as judges of the Constitutional Court. Thus, Tupytskyi and Kasminin were deprived of their powers as judges of the Constitutional Court and chairman of the court. Subsequently, the Representative of the President of Ukraine at the Constitutional Court explained that in this way they also lost the status of a judge (of general jurisdiction) and the right to life insurance as a judge of the Constitutional Court. Venislavskyi advised all those who disagree with the decision to appeal to the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, as only they can challenge the president's decree. On 8 April the Constitutional Court of Ukraine received a constitutional submission from a group of 49 people's deputies regarding the unconstitutionality of the decree of the President of Ukraine on the cancellation of the decrees appointing Tupytskyi and Kasminin to the positions of judges of the Constitutional Court. The
European Solidarity European Solidarity (, ; , YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in various forms as a political outlet for Petro Poroshenko. The party with its the ...
party explained the appeal to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine with the intention to prevent the "usurpation of power" by Zelensky. On 1 July 2021, Tupytskyi filed a lawsuit against the Constitutional Court with a demand to award more than ₴900,000 in judges' salaries. In the lawsuit, he demanded that the Constitutional Court's inaction regarding the non-payment of wages in the period from 18 April to 28 August 2020 be recognized as illegal. On 16 August, the President's Office contested Tupytskyi's reinstatement as a judge of the Constitutional Court. The renewal became possible after the Supreme Court annulled President Zelenskyi's decree on the release of Tupytskyi. On 9 December 2021, the US Treasury Department added Tupytskyi, along with the former deputy head of President Yanukovych's Administration Andriy Portnov, to the sanctions list, accusing him of using influence to make custom decisions in courts and undermining the reform of the judicial system. He terminated his powers as a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on 15 May 2022 due to the expiration of his term of office. On 23 August 2022, Tupytskyi is declared wanted.


Investigation

In December 2020, the "Schemes" program published a recording of Tupytskyi's conversation about involvement in referee fraud and receiving bribes, conducted by the SBU. Tupytsky convinced the witness not to testify to the law enforcement officers and talked about business schemes in which he was probably involved. Data were also made public that Tupytskyi bought and did not declare land in
Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
, temporarily occupied by
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, which he became the owner of in 2018 under Russian laws, confirmation was received from Russia. Tupytskyi explained this by the fact that he "doesn't know how" to declare it, citing it as the Russian occupation of Crimea. On 19 January 2021, the SBI notified Tupytsky of suspicion of crimes under Part 2 of Article 384, Article 386 of the Criminal Code (knownly false testimony combined with artificial creation of defense evidence, bribing a witness to refuse to testify). On 1 March, the SBI initiated a criminal case against Tupytskyi on self-rights. On 26 March the Chairman of the NAKC, Oleksandr Novikov, drew up a protocol regarding Tupytskyi, because he canceled the meeting of the Constitutional Court, which was supposed to consider the appeal of the State Bureau of Investigation about his commission of a misdemeanor. The protocol was drawn up based on the fact of "failure to report the existence of a real conflict of interest". The deputy head of the Constitutional Court, Serhiy Holovaty, convened a plenary session of the court, but Tupytskyi, according to the NAKC, "illegally issued an order canceling the previously issued order." In July 2021, the SBI reported that it was investigating Tupytskyi for involvement in two more criminal offenses — in particular, regarding the possible arbitrary assignment of power and interference in the automated distribution of court cases. The investigation is taking place at the request of the president's representative in the Venislavskyi Constitutional Court. On 8 November 2021, the SBI sent a case to the court accusing Tupytskyi of unauthorized interference in the work of the automated system "Treasury Client - Treasury". According to the investigators, during 12/29/2020-02/9/2021, the chief accountant of the Constitutional Court illegally signed 207 documents on behalf of Tupytskyi, as well as signed electronic payment instructions for the payment of the judge's remuneration, wages to employees of the Constitutional Court Secretariat, along with bonuses, assistance, allowances and other payments.


Other scandals

On 10 January 2021 the publication "Censor.net" published a report about Tupytskyi's vacation at the royal villa in
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, the cost of which is over ₴300,000 per day. On 12 January he Constitutional Court confirmed that Tupytskyi with his wife and son were on vacation in the
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, but stated that the cost of the vacation was lower. The court apparatus also reported that Tupytskyi's income for 2020 amounted to ₴3.71 million.


Scientific achievements

He has publications on state mechanisms to improve the quality of professional training of judges, economic law, and problematic issues of constitutional justice. He was a participant of international conferences and professional meetings.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tupytskyi, Oleksandr 1963 births Living people Constitutional Court of Ukraine judges