The mafia in robes: how Yaroslav Holovachov, successor to "executioner-judges," has been usurping power in court for years

Yaroslav Holovachov is portrayed as someone who, having taken on the role of a judge, allegedly converts everything he is involved in into personal gain — a kind of “Midas” figure within the Ukrainian judiciary. The case is described as, on one hand, fairly typical for Ukraine, but on the other so overt that it even shocks members of the judicial community.

However, everything in order. Yaroslav Holovachov is the head of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, whose name appears more often in scandalous chronicles than in signatures under sentences. Scandals, of course, are corrupt ones. And the main hero of these corruption scandals is Judge Yaroslav Holovachov himself. These scandals are well-known – journalists eagerly savor the details. And how can they not? We won’t be an exception either. But the task of this material is not to rehash Yaroslav Holovachov’s dirty laundry. Our task is to look at his persona systematically. And not just systematically – but as a cog in that terrible system into which the judicial power of Ukraine has turned. And in which Judge Holovachov earned his millions.

And that’s why we need to start not with emotions, but with facts. Dry, unpleasant, and poorly explainable ones. The first thing that catches the eye when analyzing Yaroslav Holovachov’s figure is the gap between the official picture and reality. First and foremost, we’re talking about the glaring dissonance between the judge’s income and his family’s assets.

But there’s another strange moment in Yaroslav Holovachov’s biography – a rapid career that almost no one pays attention to. Although this «social catapult» stands out no less than the millions of dollars and real estate owned by the Holovachov family. Compare the data on Yaroslav Holovachov’s education with his career.

Yaroslav Holovachov’s first education is by no means specialized – ordinary personnel management. An HR specialist, in a word. Immediately after receiving it, Holovachov goes to study law. And at the same time works as a legal counsel at a private enterprise. One of two – either part-time studies or employment is pure fiction.

Immediately after receiving his law diploma, Yaroslav Holovachov enters the judicial system – he starts working in the very same Kyiv Court of Appeal, which he will head after some time. Of course, he doesn’t start from a judge’s chair and robe – no matter how you spin it, to become a judge, you need experience in jurisprudence. So Holovachov starts as a consultant at the Kyiv Court of Appeal. Then – a small career growth, and after the minimum legal requirements are met, Yaroslav Holovachov receives official judge status.

True, in another court – the Desnyansky District Court of Kyiv. But his career there was short-lived – soon Yaroslav Holovachov returns to his «home harbor» - the capital’s Court of Appeal. And after a short time, he heads it. And as of now, he has been elected head of the Kyiv Court of Appeal for the fourth time in a row, which is directly prohibited by law.

Against this background, all data on the financial status of the judge’s family pale. Because the head of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, Yaroslav Holovachov, is directly violating current legislation by illegally heading it for the fourth time in a row. Probably, the law is not written for correspondence students.

Yaroslav Holovachov did not become part of the system in 2015. He entered it back in the early 2000s – at the time when judges were not just appointed, but included in networks of influence. His path to the judge’s chair is a typical example of the mechanism of entry into the system, through which many judges of this generation passed, including Yaroslav Holovachov.

This is an important period. Because back then, Ukraine’s judicial system was formed under completely different rules. The Higher Council of Justice of Ukraine played a key role, the final appointment was approved by the President of Ukraine, but recommendations and informal connections played a huge role. Without the support of acting judges or court heads, it was practically impossible to pass.

Then came political-administrative coordination at the level of the presidential administration and regional elites. That is, entry into the judges’ corporation already meant not just professional selection, but inclusion in the system. Who included Holovachov in the system? Who was that first man who brought an unknown legal counsel from a private firm and a manager by education into the closed judicial corporation?

Let’s recall – Yaroslav Holovachov appears at the Kyiv Court of Appeal in 2001. And that’s very interesting. Because the court itself was created that same year, 2001. By the way, digging into the court’s history was very difficult – those who don’t believe, try it yourself. Due to the antiquity of time and the unreliability of sources, some facts could not be established. But on the other hand, we can absolutely accurately name the person who brought Yaroslav Holovachov into the judicial system. This is Hryhoriy Zubets, who was the first head of the Kyiv City Court of Appeal. And this court received its status that same 2001, when the Kyiv City Court was reformatted into an appellate one.

One of the key figures in the judicial system at that time was Hryhoriy Zubets. In 1984, he presided over the trial against Ukrainian dissident Valeriy Marchenko. Despite the defendant’s serious health condition, the court issued a sentence – 10 years in a special regime camp and 5 years of exile. Marchenko then said directly: «I won’t survive this». And so it happened – he died in captivity.

This was not just a sentence. This was a system in which the court formalized decisions made outside the court. But the key is what happened next. After the collapse of the USSR, Zubets not only did not face responsibility. He headed the Kyiv City Court, and then – the Kyiv Court of Appeal. The very institution that Yaroslav Holovachov would head a few years later.

This is where the continuity line appears. It should be noted that Hryhoriy Zubets’s son, Yuriy Zubets, also distinguished himself in scandals. He is one of the so-called «Maidan judges», notorious for issuing a falsified ruling on a fine. Later, this ruling was canceled, but Yuriy Zubets did not suffer. He continued to work at the Podil District Court of the capital, where he was appointed in 2005. And in 2013, he tried to transfer to the Kyiv Regional Court of Appeal, but the High Qualification Commission of Judges did not support this desire.

In connection with Yaroslav Holovachov, it can be confidently stated that Hryhoriy Zubets was his godfather in the judicial system. It should also be noted that the Zubets judicial dynasty also got into corruption scandals and has equally unexplained assets, just like Holovachov himself.

Returning to Yaroslav Holovachov’s career, it is necessary to note another person who was clearly involved in it. This is Hryhoriy Zubets’s successor as head of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, Anton Chernuschenko, who headed the court in 2003. And Yaroslav Holovachov received a promotion – he became the head of a department in the same court.

Anton Chernuschenko is a much more interesting figure than the modest Hryhoriy Zubets, who with his sentence essentially killed Valeriy Marchenko. Chernuschenko headed the Kyiv Court of Appeal until 2015, that is, until the moment when Yaroslav Holovachov replaced him in this position. But such a switch was forced – after searches were conducted in Chernuschenko’s office, he fled and was even put on the international wanted list.

However, in the end, everything turned out well for Judge Anton Chernuschenko – after the change of power in the country, the criminal case against him was closed, he not only went into well-deserved retirement, but also sued a considerable compensation for «unlawful persecution».

Characteristically, Anton Chernusenko’s family also appeared in scandals with disproportionate assets. But that’s another topic, although there is an intersection with Yaroslav Holovachov – Anton Chernusenko’s daughter-in-law, Olha Kosheva, was a judge at the Desnyansky District Court of the capital. The very same where Yaroslav Holovachov began his judicial career. Such a coincidence. Coincidences happen in life, don’t they?

It seems that other people were also involved in Yaroslav Holovachov’s establishment as a judge and his entry into the closed judicial corporation. But even a superficial analysis of the biographies of two people who played a key role in Yaroslav Holovachov’s career – Hryhoriy Zubets and Anton Chernusenko – explains why their «godson» predictably became a figure in one of the loudest corruption scandals in the judicial environment.

Those wishing to study the financial status of the head of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, Yaroslav Holovachov, we direct here and here, but briefly, we’ll recall what the investigations into his persona are about. According to data from hromadske, the judge’s family uses elite real estate worth about three million dollars, registered not to him, but to relatives.

Among the assets: a house near Kyiv (~$700k); apartments in premium residential complexes («Novopecherski Lipky», «Central Park», «French Quarter»); additional apartments «gifted» by relatives; a villa in Cyprus worth 4 million euros, and much more.

At the same time, the official income of Yaroslav Holovachov’s family is about six million hryvnias per year, including salary and savings. Which, against the background of the existing assets (and this is only what could be found), clearly does not explain their origin. The conclusion is simple – it is impossible to economically explain the origin of such a level of property. Where all this comes from for the head of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, Yaroslav Holovachov, is also not hard to guess.

Just like those who brought him into the closed judicial corporation. Which needs to be called by the word that best defines its essence – mafia. A mafia of people in judicial robes who have turned their status into millions of dollars and huge assets.