Vsevolod Kniaziev, former chairman of Ukraine’s Supreme Court and a suspect in a bribery case, is formally suspended from working at the court until at least April 6, the Supreme Court announced on Feb. 6.

Kniaziev was released from detention after paying Hr 18 million bail ($450,000) on Jan. 31, a day after his bail was reduced and his detention was simultaneously extended until March 29.

Kniaziev was detained and dismissed from his position in May 2023 after he was charged with accepting a $2.7 million bribe to rule in favor of Ukrainian billionaire Kostyantyn Zhevago.

The sum of the bail was reduced several times since his arrest, originally being set at Hr 107.3 million ($2.8 million). The court attributed the decisions to Kniaziev’s allegedly poor health and his inability to pay specific amounts.

While he had been formally dismissed from his position as the court’s chairman, until Feb. 6 he could technically return to work as an ordinary judge at the Supreme Court because he had not been formally suspended.

Read also: Ex-Supreme Court chief charged with bribery released on bail, can return to work

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