Media: Judge Arestova has Russian passport and visited occupied Crimea. PHOTO
Judge of the Donetsk District Administrative Court Liudmyla Arestova, according to an extract from the automated system ’Rospasport’, is a citizen of the Russian Federation.
This is stated in the investigation of "Schemes", Censor.NET reports with reference to Radio Liberty.
According to an extract from the 'Rospasport', Lyudmyla Arestova became a Russian citizen on 5 April 2014, and the passport itself was issued on 10 April. The reason for the acquisition of Russian citizenship, according to the extract, is Article 5 of the so-called agreement "between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea", ratified on 21 March 2014. At that time, Russia announced the "incorporation" of Crimea into its territory (a decision that contradicts international law).
Using the website of the Russian Tax Service, they managed to identify Lyudmila Arestova's individual taxpayer number in Russia, linked to her Russian passport.
As of the date of publication, Arestova had not renounced her Russian citizenship. The journalists checked the validity of the document using the official service of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. As of 13 July 2023, Lyudmyla Arestova's Russian passport was not listed as invalid.
From sources in law enforcement agencies, Skhemy received information about the crossing of the administrative border with Crimea by judge Lyudmyla Arestova over the past five years.
Judge Arestova visited the peninsula at least 6 times in 2018, 7 times in 2019, 1 time in 2020, and 5 times in 2021. The last time she returned from a 31-day trip to Crimea was a month before the invasion, in January 2022.
If we calculate the total duration of Ukrainian judge Arestova's stay in Crimea since mid-2018, we get at least 255 days - a total of more than six months on the Russian-occupied peninsula.
On the website of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, journalists found a questionnaire filled out by Judge Arestova in 2018, when she was undergoing a qualification assessment. When asked whether she had citizenship of another state, Arestova replied: "No, I do not." In 2019, Arestova filled out a similar questionnaire when she applied for the position of judge of the Kyiv District Administrative Court. She again failed to mention the Russian document.
In a commentary to Schemes, Judge Arestova also claims that she does not have Russian citizenship.
"I do not have Russian citizenship. I only know that I lived in Crimea and was registered there, and worked in the court, and therefore I may have been issued such a passport. Because, if I'm not mistaken, all the citizens who lived in Crimea and who were registered there at the time of the annexation were all recognised as Russian citizens," said Arestova.
When asked about the similarity of the handwriting and signature in the documents from the judge's dossier and in the form 1P, which is included in the extract from the automated system Rospasport, Arestova said that it was a "fake" because it contained information "that does not correspond to reality".
Azrestova commented on the information regarding 255 days spent in Crimea over the past 5 years:
"I feel okay about this, because there is no ban for judges who lived in Crimea and who have relatives living there, if they have property. When I was passing the qualification assessment, the commission members asked me these questions. They said that they had no questions for me because I was not going on holiday, but because I have elderly parents there who have very serious illnesses."
The judge added: "My parents are citizens of the Russian Federation, they lived in Kamchatka, and then moved to Sevastopol in 2007 and received a permanent residence permit."
Arestova also claims that the issue of her Russian citizenship has already been investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation.
"Since 2021, the SBI has been dealing with this issue. And I have already filed several complaints about this, because this is not new information. I was interrogated by the SBI about this information and I was shown the form (Form 1P - ed.) that is there, and I will say that it contains deliberately false information. I was searched at home, they were looking for this passport, they were looking for it in court."
Judge Liudmyla Arestova has been working in Sevastopol since 2001, rising from assistant prosecutor to deputy chief of staff of the local district administrative court. In 2013, she was appointed to the position of judge of the Donetsk District Administrative Court by a decree issued by fugitive former President Viktor Yanukovych for a five-year term. In 2019, she was reappointed to the same position by then-President Petro Poroshenko. The Donetsk District Administrative Court moved to the city of Sloviansk after the start of Russia's armed aggression in 2014, and since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, it has been administering justice in Dnipro.
