Lawyers emphasize that traffic police officers had no right to go to people’s homes and invite them for interviews.
Lawyer Anna Lytvyn told Hromadske TV that “the State Traffic Police has no right to come [to your – UP] home. Let them send a summons.”
“It [going to drivers’ homes] is calculated for those people who do not know their rights, with the intention to strip them of their driver’s license,” she added.
Also, lawyer Dmitry Yovdiy, in his comments to Ukrainska Pravda noted that “there is no law under which a person is obliged to appear before a body of the State Traffic Police or communicate with them in any way: by phone, or when they visit homes.”
“The fact that they are visiting homes, sending letters with requests to provide a vehicle for inspection or to give explanations, it is in fact illegal, and citizens are not liable to respond to these types of calls,” Yovdiy addded.
“There is a clear procedure for administrative prosecution (of this sort – UP): at the time of the moving violation the driver stops the vehicle, and the traffic police officer files a report on the violation,” he said.
“If the driver does not stop, as might be the case, the traffic police officer has the right to file a report based on evidence of the offense (a video record or evidence from eye-witnesses). This report is to be brought to the court, and it is up to the court to decide on the prosecution of the driver,” Yovdiy added.
“This driver has to be brought to court and prove his or her innocence, if he or she finds himself or herself innocent,” he added.
“On December 29, a large group of vehicles was moving quite chaotically, and if the traffic police officers tried to stop some cars, it is difficult to prove which cars they attempted to stop. According to the law, a driver is required to stop only when a traffic police officer picks up the baton and points directly at your vehicle,” he said.
He also pointed out that the State Traffic Police have the right to request a car inspection only if there is an accident.
“Traffic police officers do not have the authority to call drivers and make them provide their vehicles for inspection. There is no such law,” he said.
Original in Ukrainian on the Ukrainska Pravda website:
