The imposition of a real punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty for a man who during the war stole household appliances from the apartment of Kharkiv residents who left the city due to hostilities meets the requirements of the law - SC

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence of the court of appeal against a Kharkiv resident who, in the summer of 2022, took advantage of the absence of property owners who had left Kharkiv due to hostilities in the city and a Russian air strike, and committed the theft of their household appliances (part 4 of Article 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The man was sentenced by the district court to 5 years' imprisonment and released on probation with a probationary period of 2 years. In making this decision, the local court took into account the specific circumstances of the criminal offence, the identity of the accused, as well as sincere remorse as a mitigating circumstance and the absence of aggravating circumstances.

The court of appeal partially overturned the verdict by altering the imposed penalty and sentencing the offender to five years in prison. The court excluded the convict's sincere remorse as a mitigating circumstance from the local court's verdict reasoning.

In the cassation appeal, the defence lawyer stated that, in his opinion, the sentence imposed by the court of appeal in the form of real imprisonment was unfounded and that the local court's application of a suspended sentence was justified.

The Supreme Court concluded that the sentence imposed on the convicted person by the court of appeal met the requirements of the law. The court of appeal, in particular, took into account the absence of mitigating and aggravating circumstances. At the same time, the сourt found that the local court's recognition of such a mitigating circumstance as sincere remorse was unjustified, since the criminal proceedings did not contain any evidence that the accused had taken measures to remedy the consequences of the crime and the stolen property had been returned to the victims by law enforcement officials.

The Resolution of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of 4 October 2023 in case No. 953/6840/22 (proceedings No. 51-4139км23) - https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/114052566.

This and other legal positions of the Supreme Court can be found in the Database of Legal Positions of the Supreme Court - lpd.court.gov.ua/login.