Man appealed punishment for attempting to give $100 to a police officer – appellate court doubled the fine
The panel of judges of the criminal chamber of the Sumy appellate court annulled the local court's verdict in terms of the imposed punishment and adopted a new one. The basis for this decision was that the court of first instance, having found the accused guilty of committing a corruption crime, imposed a punishment below the minimum limit established by law. This was reported by the court's press service.
Circumstances of the case
In January 2025, in the city of Krolevets, patrol police stopped a Skoda Octavia car whose driver was driving without the low beam headlights on during nighttime. During the document check, law enforcement officers noticed signs of alcohol intoxication in the man: a characteristic smell of alcohol, impaired coordination of movements and speech.
The police offered the driver to undergo an alcohol intoxication test using a special device "Dräger" or at a medical facility, but he refused. Due to this, the officers began drawing up an administrative protocol under part 1 of article 130 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses. Trying to avoid punishment, the man offered the police officer 100 US dollars not to draw up the protocol and not to bring him to administrative responsibility. The driver's actions were qualified as giving an unlawful benefit to an official (part 1 of article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Decision of the court of first instance
The court of first instance found the accused guilty and, applying article 69 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Imposition of a milder punishment than provided by law), imposed a fine of 8,500 hryvnias. The prosecution appealed the local court's decision. In the appeal, the prosecutor emphasized that the crime committed by the accused belongs to the category of corruption offenses, and therefore the application of article 69 of the Criminal Code and the imposition of a punishment below the minimum limit established by the article's sanction contradict the requirements of the law.
Decision of the appellate court
After reviewing the case, the Sumy appellate court annulled the verdict in terms of the imposed punishment and adopted a new one, imposing a punishment under part 1 of article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine within the sanction of this article – in the form of a fine of 17,000 hryvnias. The panel of judges noted that in cases of corruption criminal offenses, according to amendments to article 69 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (No. 1698-VII dated 14.10.2014), the application of a milder punishment than provided by law is not allowed.
The verdict of the Sumy appellate court came into legal force from the moment of its announcement and may be appealed in cassation within three months from the date of announcement.
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