Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has signed and enacted the law No 916- V ІІІ amending Ukraine's Code of Criminal Procedure in part of criminal proceedings which fall within the jurisdiction of investigative bodies of the prosecutor's office, the press service of the head of state has said.
This law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on Dec. 24.
The document regulates a conduct of pre-trial criminal inquiries by investigators of the prosecutor’s office during the period when final and transitional provisions of Ukraine’s Criminal Procedure Code will be in force.
In particular, the amendments will ensure that investigators of the special investigation division of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office continue comprehensive and consistent work on inquiries into high-profile criminal proceedings related to crimes against activists of the Revolution of Dignity in November 2013 – February 2014 and other crimes committed by the previous authorities.
Earlier provisions of the Code envisaged that starting from Nov. 19, 2015 investigators of the prosecution agencies were deprived of the right to conduct pre-trial inquiries into criminal proceedings pertinent to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. From November 26, 2015, investigators of the prosecution have to hand over these criminal proceedings to the Bureau.
“Analysis of criminal proceedings which are at the stage of pre-trial inquiry of the special investigation unit of the Main Investigation Department revealed facts pointing to the creation of a criminal organization by representatives of the previous regime; with regard to this and under Part 1 of Article 255 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code a suspicion has already been announced to a number of individuals, including Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych. During the pre-trial investigation all the links of this chain are examined as a whole, including the links in the regions and the center [of Ukraine]; systematic abuses in economic, financial, governmental and law enforcement areas,” the press service said.
At the same time, legislative acts adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, in particular regarding the activities of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the State Investigations Bureau, may have significant negative impact on the investigation of crimes against Maidan and state interests which have been committed by representatives of the previous authorities within a criminal group. In this way, cases on abuse and embezzlement of state resources by former high-profile officials have to be transferred to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau; cases on killings of law enforcers on Maidan have to be passed to the National Police; cases on crimes against activists of the Revolution of Dignity have to be transferred to the State Investigations Bureau.
“Taking into account interconnection of these proceedings, the dispersal of them among three different pre-trial investigative bodies will create obstacles to the effective inquiry in particular cases, moreover, it will make the investigation of activities within one criminal organization completely impossible,” the source said.
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted the above-mentioned law in order to overcome the negative consequences discussed.
