Documents voluntarily submitted can be used as evidence in the case – CCS of the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court clarified: if a person who has items, documents, and other materials that have evidentiary value for establishing the circumstances of a criminal offense voluntarily provides them to an investigator, this does not indicate that such evidence was obtained by the pre-trial investigation body in an extrajudicial manner and is not grounds for declaring them inadmissible.
The court reached this conclusion in a case concerning the accusation of a person of aiding the aggressor state under Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The details of the case
The appellate court previously overturned the local court's acquittal and found the accused guilty under Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code.
In the cassation appeal, the accused argued that the case materials did not confirm that the "certificate," "letter of gratitude," employment contract, and extracts from the order were signed specifically by representatives of the Russian Federation. He also noted that these documents were attached in violation of procedural law and are not evidence.
The CCC (Criminal Court of Cassation) noted that during the case review, a witness stated that he worked as an SSU investigator and investigated criminal proceedings concerning the commission of a criminal offense under part 7 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code, including information about the accused's aiding.
After the partial de-occupation of the Kupiansk district, he was provided with many documents related to the criminal proceedings, including the "letter of gratitude" and "certificate," which indicated the presence of elements of a criminal offense in the accused's actions, which became the basis for entering information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under part 7 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code regarding the accused.
Considering the heavy workload on SSU investigators, the case was transferred to the investigative department of the Kupiansk police department.
The panel of judges of the CCC indicated that when a person who has items, documents, and other materials with evidentiary value for establishing the circumstances of a criminal offense voluntarily provides them to an investigator, expressing their will, this does not indicate that such evidence was obtained by the pre-trial investigation body in an extrajudicial manner and is not grounds for declaring them inadmissible.
Given the above, and the fact that witnesses in the court session confirmed the voluntary submission of the above written evidence, the appellate court reasonably concluded that the defense's arguments about obtaining the written evidence in an extrajudicial manner are unfounded and do not affect the admissibility of the evidence.
The ruling of the panel of judges of the Third Judicial Chamber of the CCC of the Supreme Court dated April 15 in case No. 529/1660/22 (proceeding No. 51-7201km23).
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