On September 23, 2025, the HACC Appeals Chamber began hearing the defence’s appeals against the verdict in the case of former Head of the State Judicial Administration, Oleksii Salnikov.

As reported earlier, on August 6, 2025, the HACC found Salnikov guilty and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. The court reclassified his actions from incitement to bribery to abuse of influence and acquitted him of fraud. More details on the first-instance trial can be found in our earlier piece.

Three defense lawyers filed appeals against the HACC verdict, requesting that it be amended and that Salnikov be acquitted under Article 369-2(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The prosecutor did not file an appeal against the verdict.

At today’s hearing, the defense filed several motions: to prepare a new pre-trial report, to conduct an authorship examination of statements made by Oleksii Honchar, and to re-examine a number of pieces of evidence. The court rejected these motions.

The panel then moved to the presiding judge’s report. At the next hearing, the defense will present the substance of their appeals.

Salnikov was accused of inciting Oleksii Honchar in March 2023 to provide a $7,500 bribe in exchange for a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a commercial company. However, after the exposure of Supreme Court Chairman Kniaziev for receiving a bribe, Salnikov’s behavior, according to the investigation, changed sharply — he began avoiding resolution of the issue but did not intend to return the money, which was qualified as fraud.