The relevant legal analysis of the draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding the closure of criminal proceedings in connection with the decriminalization of the act" (reg. No. 7630 dated 02.08.2022) was carried out by the Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure of the NAAU.
The legislative initiative is aimed at creating an appropriate legal mechanism for closing criminal proceedings in connection with the decriminalization of an act.
In a letter dated August 3, 2022, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Law Enforcement asked NAAU to express its legal position on this draft law.
Amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine propose to exclude Clause 4, Part 1, Art. 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine as recognized as unconstitutional, and to add a new clause to the said article, according to which the ground for closing criminal proceedings is the loss of validity of the law that established the criminal illegality of an act, the commission of which a person is suspected or accused. It is also proposed to make it impossible to close the criminal proceedings on this basis if the suspect or the accused objects to this. Under such circumstances, the criminal proceedings will continue in the general procedure provided for by the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and in the event that a person is found guilty of committing a criminal offense and the court passes a guilty verdict, he is exempted from punishment (supplement of paragraph 2, part 4, Article 374 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Based on the results of the legal analysis, NAAU supported the legislative initiative.