Recently, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law “On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine to Improve Certain Provisions in Connection with the Conduct of a Special Pre-Trial Investigation,” which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on April 27, 2021.
This is a long-awaited document on which the fate of cases related to the EuroMaidan Revolution, which ended Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency in 2014, and war and corruption crimes depends. These are changes that are needed not just by prosecutors and investigators. The families of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred – the 100 or so protesters killed during the demonstrations — and their representatives, families of the fallen defenders, have been waiting for the adoption of this law.
This is the third attempt of the lawmakers to revive criminal prosecution in absentia, which will allow investigators and the court to ensure, finally, the inevitability of punishment for those guilty of crimes against the demonstrators and those who have betrayed the interests of Ukraine. We are grateful to the people’s deputies for their support of this draft law, since its goal is that no person who has committed serious and audacious crimes in the territory of Ukraine should escape responsibility, regardless of where he or she is hiding.
The law has supplemented the list of crimes for the commission of which criminal prosecution in absentia is allowed. Among them are crimes against the foundations of national security of Ukraine, against public safety, against the life and health of the person, against peace, security of mankind, and international legal order, as well as those related to abuse of power, or legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means.
This law provides for the possibility to prosecute in absentia not only persons put on the international wanted list but, most importantly, persons in respect of whom there are sufficient grounds to believe that they have left and/or they stay in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine or in the territory of the state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada as an aggressor state.
Summons for their appearance, in case of impossibility of service, may be published in the state mass media and on the official website of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The draft law amends 14 articles of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
At the same time, amendments to Article 297-1 and Article 323 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine remain decisive ones, as they allow for criminal prosecution in absentia against persons who have left and/or who stay in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine or in the territory of the state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an aggressor state.
It will contribute, in particular, to the progress in the cases of mass killings of protesters on Feb. 20, 2014, on Instytutska Street in Kyiv; criminal proceedings against the former top government officials of the state and law enforcement officers over the events of massacres and other acts of violence in the most tragic days of the Revolution of Dignity, as well as against the so-called “titushkas” criminal organization whose members abducted and tortured protesters at the request of the former managing officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
This law is indeed revolutionary. It will help to move these cases from the “deadlock.” And this year could be a year of breakthrough in Maidan cases, because indeed many of these cases may finally receive sentences, and in some pre-trial investigations indictments may be sent to court and their trial may begin.
The new law will also allow for a special pre-trial investigation and transfer of indictments to the court for trial in absentia in criminal proceedings against high-ranking officials of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which unleashed and waged an aggressive war against Ukraine, resulting in temporary occupation of our territory, and the death of thousands of citizens. We can hope for a trial in absentia for Russian generals, in particular, against those involved in the setting-up of the Debaltseve and Ilovaisk pocket massacres, and the armed seizure of the Crimean peninsula.
The arms of the Law can finally reach the leaders and members of the Russian-controlled illegal armed groups. Among the most famous, there are combatants with code names “Bies” and “Strielkov”, who inflicted punishments on prisoners in the occupied towns of Donetsk Oblast. Those who tormented and abused the captured Ukrainian servicemen and civilians in the Donetsk prison “Izoliatsiia” will also be held responsible for tortures in this torture chamber.
The new norms will allow moving forward as part of a special investigation within suspended criminal proceedings. In particular, it relates to the person suspected of committing a number of grave and especially grave crimes, including the murder of journalist Viacheslav Veremii, who has been on the international wanted list since June 2014 and is now a staff adviser to several so-called “DPR government ministers”.
In addition, improving the legislation will allow anti-corruption bodies to bring to justice those involved in top-level corruption in the days of Yanukovych and those on European Union sanctions lists.
Amendments to 14 articles of the Criminal Procedure Code have been made to ensure the inevitability of punishment for mass crimes during the EuroMaidan Revolution, the economic bleeding of the state through embezzlement of its property, the betrayal of Ukraine’s interests, and war crimes.
Now the task of law enforcement officers is to respond to society’s request for justice within the framework of a special pre-trial investigation and trial in absentia.
Iryna Venediktova is the prosecutor general of Ukraine. She took office in March 2020. She is a former acting head of the State Investigation Bureau and ex-chair of the Committee on Legal Policy of the Verkhovna Rada.
