On 13 November, the Appeals Chamber of the HACC upheld the sentence handed down to MP Liudmyla Marchenko — two years’ imprisonment. Her former aide, Anastasiia Kolesnik, was given a fine of 93,500 hryvnias instead of a custodial sentence.
This was reported by the Appeals Chamber of the HACC and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The court dismissed the appeal complaints filed by the prosecutor and by Liudmyla Marchenko’s defence. At the same time, the appeal lodged by her aide’s lawyer was partially upheld.
Marchenko was found guilty of trading in influence committed by a group of persons acting in prior conspiracy. She was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and banned from holding positions in state authorities for three years.
According to the case materials, the MP and her aide promised, in exchange for money, to influence authorised officials of a regional military administration so that they would grant citizens permission to travel abroad and enter the relevant information into the Shliakh system.
The investigation established two episodes of receiving an unlawful benefit. One involved $6,000, the other $5,300. The total amount was $11,300.
In her final statement, Anastasiia Kolesnik said she understood her guilt and repented. She asked the court to take into account that she is raising two young children on her own and is pregnant.
Liudmyla Marchenko, for her part, insisted that the charges did not correspond to the actual circumstances of the case and asked for the verdict to be overturned, for her to be acquitted, and for the criminal proceedings to be closed.
The HACC court of first instance delivered its verdict on 19 March 2026. The appellate court’s decision entered into force from the moment it was pronounced. It may be challenged on cassation to the Supreme Court within three months.
Liudmyla Marchenko Case
- Marchenko was served with a notice of suspicion in July 2023. NABU said that Marchenko and her aide were caught receiving $11,300 for facilitating border crossings. According to the investigation, the suspects arranged for a charitable organisation to submit an application to one of the district military administrations, on the basis of which the regional military administration decided to grant a citizen permission to travel abroad as a volunteer. He was supposedly to bring humanitarian aid into Ukraine.
- NABU published part of the evidence in the Marchenko case, including conversations between those involved in which the details of the scheme are discussed. The video also captures the moment the aide handed the money to the MP and shows Marchenko trying to dispose of physical evidence by throwing the dollars over the fence of her property.
- Later, MP Marchenko was expelled from the Servant of the People party.
- In March this year, Marchenko received a two-year prison sentence for assisting men to travel abroad through the “Shliakh” system.