Mykola Chaus

Mykola Chaus is a former judge of the Dniprovskyi District Court of Kyiv who is accused of corruption.

On August 9, 2016, according to NABU, he was caught receiving an unlawful benefit of 150 thousand dollars. The money was found in 2 glass jars, one of which the judge personally buried in the yard of his own private household.

Chaus was not detained because of judicial immunity, and he managed to flee from Ukraine to Moldova.

From November 11, 2016, he was on the international wanted list through Interpol for the purpose of arrest and subsequent extradition to Ukraine.

On March 1, 2017, Chaus was detained in Moldova. Immediately after that, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office announced its intention to demand his extradition to Ukraine for a pretrial investigation in accordance with the law.

In early March 2017, the documents for the judge's extradition arrest were sent to the Moldovan side. Former judge Chaus's defense stated that it would insist on granting him political asylum in Moldova.

On March 15, 2021, it became known that Moldova had finally refused political asylum to Ukrainian judge Mykola Chaus. This decision was made by the panel for civil, commercial and administrative disputes of the Supreme Court of Justice of Moldova.

On April 3, 2021, the fugitive former judge's lawyer stated that his client had been kidnapped by a group of unknown persons right in the center of Chisinau. The Moldovan police confirmed this information.

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