Negative Integrity Conclusion on Vitalii Viacheslavovych Amelokhin: Crimea Connection in Judicial Assessment
🎯 Position at Time of Violation
Position: Member of the Public Integrity Council
Organization: Public Integrity Council of Ukraine
💬 The Statement
Context: The PIC cites travel to Russian Federation as evidence of integrity violation, treating Russian territory as legitimately separate jurisdiction rather than occupied Ukrainian territory.
📄 Full Details
What Happened#
On November 15, 2020, the Public Integrity Council approved a negative integrity conclusion on Vitalii Viacheslavovych Amelokhin (Амельохін Віталій В’ячеславович), a candidate for a position at Okruzhnyi Administrative Court of Kyiv. The conclusion was adopted by 9 of 15 members, including Eduard Myelkykh.
Document does not contain specific mentions of Crimea connections. It only cites the judge’s travel to Russian Federation via Domodedovo airport in 2015, without indicating property or relatives in Crimea/Sevastopol.
Eduard Myelkykh voted in favor of this conclusion. The Crimea-related element was flagged as a concern but was not cited as the primary basis for the negative conclusion.
The Crimea Connection#
On 29.12.2014, the judge together with his family crossed the border by air on the Kyiv-Almaty flight, and on 11.01.2015 entered Ukraine by air on the Domodedovo-Kyiv flight, which indicates the judge’s visit to the territory of the Russian Federation.
The PIC cites travel to Russian Federation as evidence of integrity violation, treating Russian territory as legitimately separate jurisdiction rather than occupied Ukrainian territory.
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.
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 — contradicting Ukraine’s constitutional position that Crimea is sovereign Ukrainian territory under temporary occupation.
This conclusion is part of a documented pattern: a systematic review of PIC conclusions reveals that across dozens of cases, judges and candidates were assessed negatively on the basis of connections to Crimea. The pattern was formally codified in the December 16, 2020 revised Indicators.
Verification#
- Official PIC conclusion document dated November 15, 2020.
- Electronic voting record confirming participation by Eduard Myelkykh (9 of 15).
🔎 Evidence
- Official Public Integrity Council conclusion on Vitalii Viacheslavovych Amelokhin (Амельохін Віталій В'ячеславович), dated November 15, 2020. document
- Electronic voting record appended to the conclusion, confirming the vote (9 of 15). document
- Archived copy of Official Public Integrity Council conclusion on Vitalii Viacheslavovych Amelokhin (Амельохін Віталій В'ячеславович), dated November 15, 2020. archive