In the late February night, the car of a local judge, Roman Borysiuk, was involved in an accident in the Zhytomyr region. This fact did not receive publicity — perhaps because only the judge himself was injured in the accident. It is not known who was driving the car. Slidstvo.Info journalists obtained a video from the scene of the accident, which sheds light on what happened that evening. Among other things, several empty bottles of alcohol can be seen in the car. Borysiuk says he does not know who was driving his car, with the judge himself sitting in the back seat immediately after the accident.
On 11 February 2024, at around 20.30 on the Kyiv-Chop highway near the village of Bolyarka, Zhytomyr Oblast, the car of Zhytomyr Court of Appeal judge Roman Borysiuk was involved in an accident.
At present, the judge denies that he was driving the car, and the police were unable to identify the driver and therefore did not open a case.
Judge of the Zhytomyr Court of Appeal Roman Borysiuk
The Slidstvo.Info journalists obtained from their own sources a recording from the judge’s car’s dashcam and footage from the accident scene. The video shows uncertain manoeuvres between lanes, and at one of the turns the driver of a Nissan X-Trail lost control and drove into a ditch.
In the video from the scene of the accident, Judge Roman Borysiuk was in the rear passenger seat right behind the driver’s seat. When asked about the driver of the car, Borysiuk, without looking up and slurring his words, says that the driver fled and he does not know his name. The video also shows that the airbag on the driver’s seat has deployed, which is covered in bloodstains. The car is heavily damaged on all sides, stuck among the trees. In other shots, you can see empty bottles of Jägermeister spirits in the car’s interior.
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- Judge Roman Borysiuk on the passenger seat
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- Judge Roman Borysiuk on the passenger seat
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- Empty bottles of alcohol in the car
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- The airbag
Slidstvo.Info asked the press service of the Zhytomyr Oblast Police for a comment. In a written response, investigator Vitaliy Kokidko said that the cause of the accident was non-compliance with traffic rules. In addition, the police were unable to identify the driver of the vehicle.
«Airbags with traces of blood were seized at the scene of the accident, but due to the absence of criminal consequences (bodily injuries of moderate severity or severe injuries to any of the persons as a result of the said accident in accordance with Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and the absence of any criminal offence under the Criminal Code of Ukraine, no criminal proceedings were registered over this fact, which made it impossible to appoint forensic examinations to compare the traces on the said airbags with other wasps involved», the investigator said.
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- The car from the scene of the accident
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- The car from the scene of the accident
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- The car from the scene of the accident
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- The car from the scene of the accident
The journalists called Judge Borysiuk to find out the details of the accident.
«I was not driving the vehicle», the judge assured us. When asked who was driving the car that evening, the judge refused to answer by phone, and he could not meet because he was on holiday.
This is not the first time that Judge Borysiuk has had run-ins with the police over road accidents.
According to the register of court decisions, in November 2020, Zhytomyr police officers already drew up an administrative report against the judge for violating traffic rules (crossing the solid line of road markings when changing lanes from the left to the right) and fined him UAH 255.
Borysiuk appealed to the court, which, after reviewing the case file, concluded that the video did not show the moment of the judge’s traffic violation, so the decision was cancelled.
In December 2020, Zhytomyr patrol policemen drew up an administrative report against the judge for driving in a state of alcohol intoxication (0.27 ppm) and sent the case to court. Judge Borysiuk requested a comprehensive forensic medical examination, which ruled that he was not intoxicated. Judging by the text of the court ruling, the proceedings were closed «due to the absence of an event and elements of an administrative offence».
Interestingly, a few weeks after the accident, the judge bought the same car that had been involved in the accident. In March, Roman Borysiuk took out a loan of UAH 775,000 to buy a vehicle and purchased a new Nissan X-Trail 2023 for UAH 1,564,920 (the same car that was involved in the accident).
According to the declaration, in 2023, Borysiuk received UAH 2.3 million in judicial salary. His wife, Maryna Petrovska, is also a judge, working in the Korolevskyi District Court of Zhytomyr. Last year, she earned almost UAH 1.1 million.
Earlier, Slidstvo.Info reported that the High Council of Justice did not bring to justice judge Serhiy Kovhanych, who had exceeded the speed limit, fled from police and tried to use his status as a judge to avoid punishment. The rapporteur in this case asked for the judge’s dismissal, but not a single member of the Disciplinary Chamber that reviewed the case found any violation in Kovhanych’s actions. In contrast, the police officer who stopped the judge was dismissed from his post and sentenced to three years’ probation.
