The Appeal Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has annulled the verdict regarding former People’s Deputy Oleksandr Onyshchenko in a case concerning large-scale abuses in the gas extraction sector
This was an unexpected and significant stage in the long-lasting judicial process that has been ongoing for several years and carries important political and legal consequences for the defendant and the system as a whole. According to sources, including the Appeal Chamber of the HACC and the "Hromadske" portal, the decision to annul the previous ruling means that the case must be transferred back to a lower court for a new trial. This decision essentially resets the process to its initial stage, providing an opportunity for a more thorough examination of the case circumstances and potentially opening the way to reconsideration of the earlier verdict issued by the court. The panel of judges, which considered the appeal on May 20, clearly expressed its position by dismissing the prosecutors' appeals that insisted on confirming the conviction. At the same time, the appeals of the defense and representatives of private companies and civil plaintiffs, who submitted motions on procedural issues, were partially satisfied. However, the main news is the annulment of the HACC verdict, along with the subsequent canceling of previous rulings and the obligation for the trial court to conduct a new hearing. Background to this case involves a series of accusations of large-scale corruption schemes and causing the state damages amounting to hundreds of millions of hryvnias. In April 2024, the court found Onyshchenko guilty of embezzling at least 740 million hryvnias obtained from illegal activities related to the extraction and sale of natural gas through the state enterprise "Ukrgazvydobuvannya." The verdict prescribed a sentence of 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property. It is worth noting that in March 2019, Onyshchenko was detained in Germany, where he was placed under arrest as part of Ukraine's efforts to bring him to justice. However, the German court refused to extradite him, denied his Ukrainian citizenship, and confirmed the decision to hold him in custody temporarily. It also rejected his asylum application and ordered him to leave German territory. Three years later, on November 29, 2019, Onyshchenko was officially detained in Germany and was held in custody until a final decision on his extradition or other procedural actions was made. Currently, the case against him is again being returned to the initial stage of the court proceedings, which provides an opportunity to challenge previous decisions and possibly amend them during the ongoing trial process. Overall, this development underscores the complexity and multi-vector nature of accountability in the fight against corruption at the state level, as well as the importance of independent judicial oversight over processes related to abuses in the energy sector. At the same time, for Oleksandr Onyshchenko, who is currently outside Ukraine and whose case has caused widespread public resonance, this news serves as a reminder that justice is a complex and multi-stage process capable of overturning previous rulings and offering a new chance to establish the truth.