Case under Article 369(3) of the Criminal Code closed as the investigation period expired: upheld by the Supreme Court

The client’s problem

In 2020, the client was served with a notice of suspicion under Article 369(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. After being notified that the investigation had been completed, the defence reviewed the case file and confirmed this in writing. Nevertheless, the investigator kept summoning the client and the defence lawyer “to review the file”, and the indictment was sent to court only on 13 August 2020.

What we did

• We recorded the completion of the file review in writing: the client in statements of 21 and 22 July 2020, the defence lawyer in the access record of 24 July 2020.
• In court, we argued that the indictment had been sent outside the pre-trial investigation period, and that the investigating judge’s ruling setting a time limit for reviewing the file, issued after that period had expired, did not extend it.
• We opposed the prosecutor’s appeal and cassation appeal.

Outcome

On 12 February 2021, at a preparatory hearing, the Tsentralno-Miskyi District Court of Kryvyi Rih closed the criminal proceedings under Article 284(1)(10) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (CPC). On 17 August 2021, the Dnipro Court of Appeal dismissed the prosecutor’s appeal. On 24 October 2022, the Joint Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court dismissed the prosecutor’s cassation appeal: the defence’s review of the file lasted from 4 to 24 July 2020, so the indictment was sent to court outside the pre-trial investigation period. The ruling is final. In it, the Joint Chamber set out its conclusion on how Article 219(5) of the CPC applies – how to count the period for reviewing the file under Article 290 of the CPC.