The Constitutional Court of Ukraine considered the case regarding the constitutionality of limiting cassation appeals of investigative judge rulings
The Second Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU), during the open part of the plenary session in the form of written proceedings, considered the case on the constitutional complaint of Arkadiy Kulyas.
As reported by the CCU, the applicant requests to verify the constitutionality of part four of article 424 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Code), according to which "the ruling of the investigative judge after its review in the appellate procedure, as well as the ruling of the appellate court based on the consideration of the appeal against such a ruling, shall not be subject to cassation appeal."
During the plenary session, the reporting judge in the case, Oleh Pervomayskyi, presented the content of the constitutional complaint and the grounds for opening constitutional proceedings in the case.
The reporting judge informed that by the ruling of the investigative judge of the Vinnytsia City Court of Vinnytsia region dated February 11, 2020, left unchanged by the ruling of the Vinnytsia Appellate Court, the complaint of Kulyas A.V. against the decision of the senior investigator of the Vinnytsia District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Vinnytsia region to close the criminal proceedings was denied.
Kulyas A.V. applied to the court with a motion to review the court decision that had entered into legal force based on newly discovered circumstances – the ruling of the investigative judge of the Vinnytsia City Court of Vinnytsia region dated February 11, 2020, indicating the relevant justification and referring to circumstances that, in his opinion, confirm the existence of newly discovered circumstances.
The investigative judge of the Vinnytsia City Court of Vinnytsia region considered Kulyas A.V.'s application and by the ruling dated September 24, 2025, dismissed it, indicating the absence of circumstances in it that are considered newly discovered under criminal procedural legislation.
The Vinnytsia Appellate Court dismissed the applicant's appeal and left the investigative judge's ruling of September 24, 2025, unchanged. The appellate ruling states that it enters into legal force from the moment of its announcement and is not subject to cassation appeal.
According to the author of the motion, part four of article 424 of the Code limits his right to cassation appeal of the investigative judge's ruling following the appeal of the investigator's decision to close the criminal proceedings and the appellate court's ruling following the review of such a ruling. The applicant claims a violation of his right to judicial protection guaranteed by article 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine and also points out that the contested provision of the Code contradicts a number of other norms of the Basic Law of Ukraine.
The reporting judge also informed that to ensure a full and objective consideration of the case, he sent a number of inquiry letters, in particular, to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University.
After examining the case materials, the Second Senate proceeded to the closed part of the plenary session.
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