An Appeal Containing Offensive Language Is Inadmissible and Must Be Returned - Supreme Court Resolution

The victim filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court against the ruling of the appellate court to return her appeal against the decision of the local court, which closed the criminal proceedings on the grounds of a criminal offence under part 1 of Art. 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (forgery of documents, seals, stamps and letterheads, sale or use of forged documents, seals, stamps), due to the failure to identify the person who committed the criminal offence, and the expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal liability.

The panel of judges of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal stating the following.

The requirements to be met by the appeal are defined in Art. 396 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine. In addition, the general requirements for the language of the document are clarity of presentation, accuracy of description, absence of contradictions, persuasiveness, concision, etiquette of business papers and language etiquette.

The provisions of part 1, Art. 11 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine stipulate that during criminal proceedings respect for the human dignity, rights and freedoms of every individual must be ensured. Thus, as seen from part 6, Art. 9 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine, in cases where the provisions of this Code do not regulate or ambiguously regulate the issues of criminal proceedings, the general principles of criminal proceedings defined by part 1, Art. 7 of this Code are applied. That means, in practice, some cases may necessitate making decisions that are not explicitly provided for in the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine.

The Supreme Court concurred with the findings of the appellate court that the statements in the appeal addressed to prosecutors, judges and the court were offensive, and the appeal containing such statements was inadmissible. Participants in a case are obliged to respect the court and other participants in the trial. Applications and complaints submitted to the court must comply with the requirements of the legislation in force. In the text of these documents, insulting and offensive words and symbols may not be used, in particular, to provide personal characteristics to participants in the case, other participants in the proceedings, their representatives and the court. Otherwise, it is clear that the author of the document disrespects the honour and dignity of these persons. Such actions contradict the basic principles and objectives of the legal proceedings and may be recognized by the court as an abuse of procedural rights.

The Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine does not contain a separate provision that defines the cases and consequences of such abuse. At the same time, the prohibition of abuse of procedural rights is a general legal principle and applies to all types of legal proceedings. Taking into account the aforementioned provisions of regulatory legal acts and the case law of the ECtHR, the Supreme Court concluded that the use of inadmissible and offensive statements addressed to prosecutors, courts and judges in the text of the appeal indicated such abuse.

In view of the above, a complaint or appeal that is deemed to abuse procedural rights is inadmissible and must be returned to the appellant.

Resolution of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court in case No. 264/6844/20 (proceedings No. 51- 572км21) – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/98728757.