Draft:Vasyl Nimchenko

Vasyl Ivanovych Nimchenko (Ukrainian: Василь Іванович Німченко; born 13 September 1950); is a Ukrainian politician, jurist, and former army officer who has been a member of the Verkhovna Rada since 27 November 2014.

He is the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy.

He is a former judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, having served as the deputy chairman of the court from 1996 to 1999. He is a colonel-General of Justice of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

He is a candidate of law as of 1989.

Early life and education
Vasyl Nimchenko was born on 13 September 1950 in the village of Zahorodishche, Chornobayiv district, Cherkasy Oblast.

In 1976, he graduated from the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, majoring in "law". He is the doctor of Law.

Career
From 1976 to 1981, he was a people's judge of the Podolsky District Court in Kyiv, a judge of the Kyiv City Court, and the chairman of the Pechersk District Court of the capital.

In 1981 to 1987, he held the post of chairman of the Pechersk District Court of the city of Kyiv.

In 1987 to 1989, he worked as a senior consultant to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1990 to 1996, he was a judge of the Supreme Court. Since 1995, he has been a judge of the military collegium of the Supreme Court.

In 1996, Nimchenko was appointed a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, by the Congress of Judges of Ukraine. In 19 October, he was sworn into office by becoming its first deputy chairman, with Vitaly Rozenko. On 18 October 1999, he was replaced by his successor, Mykola Selivon, along with Rozenko's counterpart, Pavlo Yevfrahov.

After he left the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in 2005, he became the permanent representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

In the autumn parliamentary elections of 2014, Nimchenko was elected as a member of parliament, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the Verkhovna Rada for the nationwide multi-mandate electoral district. He was number 25 in the electoral list of the "Opposition Bloc" party. After taking the oath on 24 November, he joined the "Opposition Bloc" parliamentary faction.

He was one of 59 deputies who signed the submission, on the basis of which the Constitutional Court of Ukraine canceled the article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on illegal enrichment, which obliged civil servants to give explanations about the sources of their income and the income of their family members. Criminal liability for illegal enrichment was introduced in Ukraine in 2015. This was one of the EU's requirements for the implementation of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan, as well as one of Ukraine's obligations to the IMF, stipulated in the memorandum.

On 18 January 2018, he was one of 36 deputies who voted against the Law on the recognition of Ukrainian sovereignty over the lost territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast.

He was the deputy Chairman of the NGO "Ukrainian Choice - the Right of the People", which was led by Viktor Medvedchuk.

In 2019, he was reelected as a people's deputy of the 9th convocation from the political force “Opposition Platform – For Life” and a member of the party's political council.

Scandals
He proposed punishing deputies with prison terms for impersonal voting in the Verkhovna Rada, but the project was rejected.

On 12 November 2019, Nimchenko was caught stealing buttons.

In 2022, Nimchenko's assistant, the head of the OPZZ faction in the Cherkasy City Council, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, planned to become the Gauleiter of the Cherkasy region during the occupation of the region by Russia. He tried to escape from Ukraine, but was caught by the SBU on the eve of his departure to the United States with his accomplice, and they were charged with treason.

Family
He is married and raises two sons.