The court prohibited NAMELY to issue a decision on plagiarism in the works of acting Rector of Vinnytsia Medical University
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The court forbade the ethics committee of the National Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher Education to issue a decision regarding the presence of plagiarism in the dissertation and scientific article of Vinnytsia Medical University acting rector Victoria Petrushenko. As Andrii Butenko, head of NAZYAVO, told “Ukrainian Pravda. Life”, the committee met on August 30 to make a decision on plagiarism. However, he could not do this due to the decision of the Vinnytsia court. Previously, the rector’s lawyers appealed to the court with a claim that the verification of Viktoria Petrushenko’s academic works was OBVIOUSLY illegal, because at the time of their defense, the legislation did not provide for the concept of “academic plagiarism”. Later, the court received a statement from the rector’s representatives, in which the lawyer, in particular, asked to prohibit NAMELY from issuing any decision until the court considers the case on its merits. Photo: SergPoznanskiy/Depositphotos “This is a normal court practice: an administrative lawsuit that prohibits some state bodies or institutions from taking certain actions. If someone claims the appropriateness or inappropriateness of powers or actions, then in Ukraine the case can be considered for years. But a person can appeal to the court with another statement with a request to protect against any illegal actions of the authorities (in this case – us), while the court considers the case,” Andriy Butenko explains. According to him, there have already been similar cases in NAZYAVO, but not during Butenko’s presidency. Victoria Petrushenko’s dissertation and scientific article have already been checked, but Andriy Butenko did not confirm or deny the presence of plagiarism in it. “We have a set of materials, we wanted to hear the other side at the meeting and make a decision. It’s a shame that we can’t finish the work, but we are law-abiding citizens,” says the head of NAZYAVO. NAZYAVO will be able to return to consideration of the complaint only after the court either cancels the decision on the ban or reviews the case on its merits. Andriy Butenko also does not rule out that NAZYAVO will file an appeal against the court’s decision. “Most likely, our legal department is studying a possible argumentation. We learned about the court decision yesterday at the end of the day. But practice shows that the court rarely cancels its decision to secure the claim,” he says. The coordinator of the Dysergate anti-plagiarism initiative Svitlana Vovk believes that this court decision is “a serious precedent for creating conditions of impunity for science thieves.” “If NAZYAVO does not find a legal mechanism to unblock this situation, then all exposed plagiarists will try to escape from responsibility in this way,” she says. A complaint about the presence of plagiarism in the rector’s works was submitted to NAZYAVO by scientist Oleg Smirnov. The author of the complaint claims that an analysis of Petrushenko’s dissertation showed that it has textual overlaps without proper references with the Russian book of 2005 and 10 other dissertations. The head of the Vinnytsia Medical University is an Honored and People’s Artist of Ukraine, as well as a doctor of medical sciences. Victoria Petrushenko is the author of the solo CD “Ukrainian folk songs and romances” and more than 270 scientific publications. Read also: The court opened a case against NAZYAVO due to the termination of the plagiarism check in Lisovoy and Babak
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