Negative Integrity Conclusion on Fomin Pavlo Viktorovych: Crimea Connection in Judicial Assessment

What Happened#

On June 9, 2026, the Public Integrity Council approved a negative integrity conclusion on Fomin Pavlo Viktorovych (Фомін Павло Вікторович), a candidate for a position at Court of Appeal. The conclusion was adopted by 16 of 18 members.

The PIC found that in 2018 and 2019 the candidate and his mother crossed the administrative boundary into temporarily occupied Crimea — with both recorded at the Chonhar checkpoint — without demonstrated urgent necessity. The PIC treated these trips as creating a risk of influence by the aggressor state’s special services and as evidence of disregard for the civic consensus against visiting occupied territory, citing them as the primary basis for its negative integrity conclusion. By classifying travel to Crimea identically to travel to Russia and equating presence there with exposure to Russian FSB recruitment, the PIC operationally treats Crimea as territory under Russian jurisdiction rather than as sovereign Ukrainian territory.

The Crimea-related element was cited as a direct basis for the negative conclusion.

The Crimea Connection#

The candidate and members of his family visited the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 2018 and 2019. […] Having weighed and assessed all the facts and circumstances, the Public Integrity Council considers that, despite the absence of a direct prohibition on visits during the period between 2014 and 2021, such trips without urgent necessity, firstly, created risks to the candidate’s independence and exposed him to the risk of falling under the influence of the aggressor state’s special services, and secondly, demonstrated a dismissive attitude on the part of the candidate’s family toward the civic consensus on publicly condemning Russia’s aggressive actions and observing the unspoken principle of refraining from travel to the territory of the aggressor state.

By equating travel to Ukrainian-sovereign Crimea with travel to Russia and framing it as exposure to Russian special services, the PIC implicitly treats Crimea as territory under Russian jurisdiction rather than as part of Ukraine.

Context#

The Public Integrity Council was established in 2016 as part of post-2014 judicial reform in Ukraine. Its mandate was to assist in vetting judges and judicial candidates based on integrity and professional ethics. While formally an advisory body, its conclusions carried significant weight in qualification proceedings and could directly affect judicial careers.

Under Ukrainian law, Crimea is a temporarily occupied territory under the Law on Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime of the Temporarily Occupied Territory (2014). The Constitution of Ukraine affirms Crimea as an integral part of Ukraine whose status cannot be altered without an all-Ukrainian referendum.

By treating Crimea-related connections as integrity risks within a formal assessment framework, the PIC applies an operational logic that treats Crimea as Russian-administered territory — reproducing the same premise that was formally codified in the December 16, 2020 revised Indicators.

Voters#

Verification#

• Official PIC conclusion document dated June 9, 2026, available on the Council’s public website.
• Electronic voting record confirming the vote count and participating members.