Exjuez Primyshin court sends a former Kyiv judge to nine years in prison for a fatal DUI crash

Por qué importa

The ruling establishes criminal responsibility for a fatal collision involving a service member on duty at a checkpoint. It highlights dangerous driving while intoxicated, the driver's late braking and his attempt to interfere with intoxication testing. Alongside the prison term, the conviction carries a ten-year ban on holding judicial office and a compensation order for the victim's family, while the case's long procedural history and extensive evidentiary work underscore the complexity of the proceedings.

Qué ha ocurrido

The Sviatoshynskyi District Court in Kyiv found Oleksii Tandyr, a former judge, guilty of violating traffic safety rules while intoxicated, causing the death of a servicemember. On the night of 26 May 2023, approximately three minutes before the start of the curfew, Tandyr was driving a Lexus ES350 on Bereciasnyi Prospekt at the entrance to Kyiv from the Zhytomyr highway when he struck National Guard soldier Vadym Bondarenko, 22, who was manning a checkpoint. Bondarenko died at the scene.

According to the findings in the case, Tandyr was intoxicated, exceeded the speed limit and braked only immediately before the collision rather than as required by the road signs. After the crash he refused to be tested for intoxication, and during the compulsory collection of biological samples he attempted to substitute water and saliva in order to falsify the results.

The Defence Bureau of National Corruption Investigation and Prevention conducted 18 examinations, including forensic medical, chemical and vehicle technical examinations, and completed its pre-trial investigation in August 2023. The case has been in court since September 2023, with more than 50 hearings and over 30 recusal motions for the judge and prosecutor following defence requests. The court credited the three years and five months Tandyr spent in pre-trial detention, banned him from judicial office for ten years, and ordered him to pay the victim's family 40 million hryvnias in compensation. Tandyr remains in custody.

Cómo lo cuentan las fuentes ucranianas

Ukrainian reporting foregrounds Tandyr's former status as a judge, the fatal collision at a National Guard checkpoint and the nine-year sentence. The coverage also provides extensive detail on intoxication testing, the late braking identified by experts, procedural delays, custody, measures concerning the defendant's assets and compensation for the victim's family.

Dónde difieren las versiones

Ukrainian sources disagree on the age of the National Guard soldier killed in the collision. Most identify Vadym Bondarenko as 22 years old, while one report states he was 23.

Contexto

The collision occurred in the early hours of 26 May 2023, roughly three minutes before the start of the curfew, at a checkpoint on Bereciasnyi Prospekt in Kyiv. Tandyr was driving a Lexus ES350 and struck 22-year-old National Guard soldier Vadym Bondarenko, who was on duty and died at the scene. The case was investigated by the ДБР and has been in court since September 2023; defence requests led to more than 50 hearings and over 30 recusal motions. The court credited the three years and five months spent in a pre-trial detention facility toward the sentence.