A Dangerous Call During the War: SC Upholds Sentence of Person Convicted to 5 Years Imprisonment for False Report on Mining

A knowingly false report on the preparation of an explosion that may cause death of people and other grave consequences (part 1 of Article 259 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) - the Supreme Court agreed with such qualification of the actions of a man cumulatively sentenced to 5 years in prison.

As the courts found, in April 2022, the man called a randomly selected subscriber number and told the woman who answered the call knowingly false information about the preparation of an explosion posing a threat of death and other serious consequences due to the mining of the house where she lived.

This act led to an atmosphere of overall fear and uncertainty among residents, caused panic, violated public safety, and also unjustifiably diverted the forces and means of special services (rescuers, police, and doctors) to check the message.

The defence's assertion that the perpetrators of the offences under Part 1 of Article 259 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine are sentenced to a punishment that is not related to their actual imprisonment is untenable in view of the following.

It follows from the provisions of Art. 75 and part 3 of Art. 78 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine that if a person commits a new crime during the probationary period, the courts should consider this as a violation of the conditions for the application of Art. 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on exemption from serving a sentence of probation and impose, pursuant to Art. 71 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, a final punishment through cumulation of unserved term under the previous sentence and the punishment under the new sentence.

In such cases, repeated discharge from punishment on probation is inadmissible.

Resolution of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court in case No. 678/527/22 (proceedings No. 51-3544км22) – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/109273642.

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