First of all I would like to give my hearty thanks to respectable lawyers, public organizations, commissioner for human rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and to everyone, who supported my viewpoint and was outraged by the events unfolding around my last month public statement.

I especially appreciate more than one hundred recently received messages from lawyers from different regions of Ukraine. Though I have not been acquainted with them, they supported me and offered help sincerely.

Taking the opportunity, I want to clarify the subject of my statement, which certain high ranking officers of the National Bar Association of Ukraine are trying to misrepresent. I’m sure that these people don’t want the Bar to be independent, self-governing and flourishing, but are eager to keep it in a depressed, divided, dependant and controlled state. 

I would like to emphasize that my statement was aimed at neither bringing the Bar of Ukraine into discredit, nor offending my colleges, conscientious and decent lawyers. Vice versa, I tried to draw attention to those generally accepted Bar problems, which I and my team have been trying to solve for about last 4 years.

In particular, my words about low proficiency and ethical standards of the Bar don’t obviously concern every lawyer of Ukraine. On this count I tried to point up the fact, that despite of the quantity of the lawyers, whose activity doesn’t meet proficiency and ethical standards, the Bar in whole as a united professional unit and public institute is responsible for that.

Talking about court system corruption, enormous scope of which puts at hazard the existence of Ukraine as a state, I said that lawyer is a main corruptive link of that system, taking into consideration a great quantity of scientific research and expert evidence regarding the issue. Herewith I intentionally used impersonal word “lawyer”, and I surely didn’t mean a particular person, talking about a lawyer as the process participant.

I’m aware of the fact that people, who are close to the initiator of bringing me to disciplinary responsibility, are able to arrange some provocative acts during my disciplinary case hearing in the disciplinary chamber of the QDBC (Qualification and Disciplinary Bar Commission) of the Region of Kyiv in order to form a firm negative attitude of the commission members towards me.

I strongly dissociate from any acts of that kind by any persons, and claim that I’m not involved in the organization of such actions. I intend to stand in defence of myself, my rights and my viewpoint exceptionally in a lawful way.

I appeal to my representatives, respectable lawyers Andriy Levkovets, Pavlo Popovych, Alina Samarets, Igor Svetlichnyi, Roman Tytykala and Leonid Shalimov, to keep calm and act in accordance with the disciplinary procedure while representing my interests.

I also earnestly appeal to everyone, who is planning to come and support me on Artema 10, street, to behave and speak properly, to keep public peace inside the premises of the QDBC (Qualification and Disciplinary Bar Commission) of the Region of Kyiv and on the nearby streets.

I respect and have confidence in all members of disciplinary chamber of the QDBC of the Region of Kyiv with no exceptions, and I rely on their proficiency and objectiveness in taking decisions. Today, these respected people will decide not on the case of lawyer Vyshnevskyi, but on the future of the Bar in Ukraine.

I believe in Justice and the victory of Truth!

Respectfully yours,

Andriy Vyshnevskyi