In Khmelnytskyi region, court sentenced to life imprisonment for intentional murder with particular cruelty

The Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeal satisfied the prosecutor's appeal and increased the sentence of the accused for intentional murder committed with particular cruelty. Instead of 15 years of imprisonment imposed by the court of first instance, the appellate court decided to sentence him to life imprisonment. This was reported by the Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeal.

As established by the court, on the evening of August 2, 2025, in the settlement of Poninka, Shepetivka district, during joint alcohol consumption between men aged 26 and 65, a conflict arose. The younger man inflicted numerous blows with hands and feet on the older man, cut off his ear with a folding knife, and left it by the roadside. Shortly after, he returned and, grabbing the victim by his clothes, forcefully threw him onto the asphalt. The man died on the spot from the injuries sustained.

For intentional murder committed with particular cruelty by a person who previously committed intentional murder (subparagraphs 4, 13 of part 2 of article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), the Shepetivka City District Court of Khmelnytskyi region sentenced the accused to a final punishment of 15 years imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay the victim 700,000 UAH in moral damages.

The prosecutor appealed the verdict. In the appeal, he requested a life sentence, stating that the punishment imposed by the local court did not correspond to the severity of the crime and the personality of the accused due to its leniency.

The appellate court agreed with the arguments of the appeal. The panel of judges noted that the local court did not take into account the exceptional severity of the crime, the manner of its commission, the nature and number of bodily injuries inflicted on the victim, as well as the irreversible consequence of the victim's death. According to the court, the circumstances of the case indicate exceptional social danger both of the act and the accused.

When choosing the type and measure of punishment, the appellate court considered, among other things, that despite his young age, the accused had repeatedly been held criminally liable, including for intentional murder, was negatively characterized during serving his sentence, and committed the new particularly serious criminal offense seven months after conditional early release.

Before conviction, he was unemployed, abused alcohol, occasionally used psychoactive substances, had a permanent place of residence and social ties, while maintaining contacts with persons with antisocial behavior and a criminal past.

The appellate court also took into account the opinion of the victims, who insisted on the strictest punishment.

As a result of the appellate review, the panel of judges concluded that the correction of the accused is possible only in conditions of isolation from society and sentenced him to life imprisonment within the sanction of part 2 of article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

"Such punishment, in the opinion of the appellate court, is necessary and sufficient for the correction of the accused and to prevent him from committing new crimes, as well as to contribute to achieving a fair balance between human rights and freedoms and the protection of the rights and interests of other persons," the appellate court's verdict states.

The full text of the verdict in case No. 681/1233/25 will be available in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

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