Man in Cherkasy region convicted of threatening to kill a judge over a lost case about a house

The Bahachivsk city court handed down a verdict against Valeriy Shchanko. He was found guilty of threatening to kill and use violence against Daria Sakun, a judge at the Zvenyhorod district court. According to the case materials, the man, who disagreed with the ruling in a property dispute, sent the judge emails containing threats.

Conflict over house ownership

The court proceedings began in 2021 when Shchanko filed a lawsuit against his ex-wife and daughter. He sought to invalidate the gift and sale-purchase agreements for the house, as well as to recognise his ownership rights to half of the couple's joint property.

The real estate initially passed into the woman's ownership as a gift from her father, and she later inherited the remaining share. In 1998, she gifted the house to her daughter, and in 2001, she divorced Shchanko. The man claimed that the building was in poor condition and that he had carried out its reconstruction at his own expense and invested money in it.

However, Judge Daria Sakun refused to satisfy the claim and recovered 2,500 hryvnia in court costs from the claimant.

Threatening letters and incident in the courtroom

Before the New Year in the winter of 2021, emails containing threats addressed to the judge began arriving at the court's email address. According to the victim, the sender did not hide his identity: he indicated his address and referred to the circumstances of the case she was hearing.

The judge also reported that after the ruling was announced, the man expressed dissatisfaction and threatened her directly in the courtroom. Court security officers had to be called to remove him from the hearing room. Meanwhile, the technical recording of the hearing was switched off, so it was not possible to confirm this episode with a recording.

According to the judge's testimony, the threats contained brutal expressions of a desire to see her dead, cut into pieces, and scatter them in the wind.

Denial of guilt and evidence

Shchanko did not admit to the actions imputed to him and asked the court to acquit him. He claimed that although the ruling was not in his favour, his conflict was with the defendant in the case, about which he had informed law enforcement agencies. He denied threatening the judge and sending the letters.

The man also stated that he did not have his own laptop, and the device seized from him belonged to his friend.

During the investigation, law enforcement officers seized a laptop, a manual titled "Computer at Work and at Home. Self-taught Guide", and a sheet of paper with a complaint addressed to the Prosecutor General. The same address was indicated on it, from which, according to the case materials, the threatening letter to the judge had been sent.

Court decision

As a result of the hearing, the Bahachivsk city court found Shchanko guilty of threatening to kill and using violence against a judge and sentenced him to two years of probation supervision.