An investigator was acquitted in a case involving a 4,000-hryvnia bribe due to lack of evidence
The Supreme Court, sitting as a panel of judges of the Second Judicial Chamber of the Cassation Criminal Court, has definitively acquitted a police investigator from the Cherkasy region who had been accused of receiving an unlawful benefit.
The appellate court reviewed Case No. 692/308/16-k and upheld the ruling of the Cherkasy Court of Appeals.
The panel of judges agreed with the conclusions of the lower courts that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient and admissible evidence to prove the law enforcement officer’s guilt.
According to the prosecution, an investigator from the district police department in Cherkasy Oblast allegedly demanded money in exchange for exemption from criminal liability during the investigation of a criminal case.
According to the prosecution, the police officer received 2,000 UAH in his office and later another 2,000 UAH during a subsequent meeting near the police station.
According to the case file, the total amount of the illegal benefit was 4,000 UAH, and the law enforcement officer’s actions were classified under Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. However, the courts of first and appellate instance acquitted him due to lack of evidence of a criminal offense.
The prosecutor’s office, disagreeing with these decisions, filed a cassation appeal, citing procedural violations. The prosecutor argued that the appellate court may have included a judge who had previously participated in these proceedings.
However, the Supreme Court found that this judge’s participation did not violate the requirements of Part 3 of Article 76 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine.
His prior participation in another stage of the proceedings, which had not been overturned by the court of cassation, did not constitute grounds for recusal. Consequently, the composition of the court was deemed fully lawful.
The court of cassation upheld the position that certain pieces of evidence for the prosecution were obtained with substantial violations of the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine, in particular in connection with the de facto search of a person under the guise of an inspection of the crime scene without proper procedural grounds and judicial oversight.
Such violations reasonably cast doubt on the admissibility of the relevant evidence.
The judges emphasized that a guilty verdict cannot be based on assumptions and may only be rendered upon full proof of the person’s guilt.
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