Vasyl Vasylovych Onopenko (; born 10 April 1949) is a Ukrainian judge and politician who served as chairman of the
Supreme Court of Ukraine
The Supreme Court of Ukraine () is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.People's Deputy of Ukraine from 1998 to 2006, as Minister of Justice from 1992 to 1995, and as a judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine within the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
from 1985 to 1991.
Biography
Onopenko is from
Vinnytsia Oblast
Vinnytsia Oblast (, ), also referred to as Vinnychchyna (), is an oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in central Ukraine. Its capital city, administrative center is Vinnytsia. The oblast has a population of
History
Vinnytsia Oblast, first established on ...
. He graduated the Kharkiv Law Institute in 1975 and later a candidate dissertation in 1994. In 1976-1981 Onopenko was a judge of the Lityn Raion court, later in the
Chernihiv Oblast
Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...
Volodymyr (Romaniuk)
Volodymyr (secular name Vasyl Omelianovych Romaniuk, ; 9 December 1923 – 14 July 1995) was a Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox priest and human rights activist who was Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate from its founding ...
), in August 1995 Onopenko resigned.
Soon after being elected to the
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...
(Ukrainian parliament) in
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
, Onopenko was excluded from SDPU(u) and created yet another party, the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party. Onopenko joined the independent group in the Verkhovna Rada and then Batkivshchyna. In the
1999 Ukrainian presidential election
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is lau ...
, he unsuccessfully ran for the presidency.
During the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election Onopenko returned to the Verkhovna Rada as the fourth candidate on the party list of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. Soon after being elected, for a short time he was unaffiliated, but then rejoined the parliamentary faction.
For the
2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 26 March 2006. Election campaigning officially began on 7 July 2005. Between November 26 and 31 December 2005, party lists of candidates were formed.
The election to the Ukrainian parliament, Verkh ...
he was again 4th on the party list of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. Later Onopenko resigned as a People's Deputy of Ukraine after being elected to chairman of the
Central Election Commission of Ukraine
The Central Election Commission of Ukraine (, commonly abbreviated as , ); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian state that acts on the basis of th ...