Appeal annulled part of the verdict in the theft case after the prosecutor noticed an error
The Kherson Court of Appeal partially annulled the verdict of the city court in case 766/3456/23 concerning theft committed under martial law and ordered a new trial regarding one of the episodes of the indictment.
The case concerns a person convicted under Part 4 of Article 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to 5 years imprisonment.
The court of first instance closed the criminal proceedings in part of one of the episodes of the indictment based on paragraph 4-1 of Part 1 of Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine — due to the repeal of the law that established the criminal illegality of the act.
The prosecutor appealed the verdict in this part, indicating that the closure of criminal proceedings should be formalized not by a verdict but by a separate court ruling.
The appellate court agreed with the prosecutor's arguments regarding the presence of a significant violation of the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
The panel of judges noted that a verdict, by its legal nature, is a court decision regarding the guilt or innocence of a person, the imposition of a sentence, or exemption from it. In contrast, the closure of criminal proceedings on the grounds provided by Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine should be formalized by a ruling as an independent procedural act.
The appellate court recognized such a violation as significant within the meaning of Article 412 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, since it concerns the form of the court decision explicitly defined by law and affects the legality of the procedural document.
At the same time, the appellate court noted that it does not have the authority to independently replace part of the verdict with a ruling, as these are different types of court decisions adopted in different procedural orders.
As a result of the review, the prosecutor's appeal was partially satisfied: the verdict in the part concerning the closure of the proceedings was annulled, and the case in this part was sent back for a new trial to the court of first instance. The rest of the verdict remains unchanged.
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