A person in respect of whom the application of compulsory medical measures is being considered has the right to speak in court pleadings and to address the court with a final statement - SC CrimCC Second Judicial Chamber

A person for whom the application of compulsory medical measures is envisaged or is being decided enjoys the rights of a suspect and an accused as provided for in Article 42 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, including the right to participate in court pleadings and to deliver a final statement, to the extent determined by the nature of the mental disorder or mental illness in accordance with the conclusions of a forensic psychiatric examination, and exercises these rights through a legal representative and defence counsel, which does not exclude the right of such a person to personally address the court after the statements of the legal representative and defence counsel during court pleadings.

Granting such a person the opportunity to personally address the court after the speeches of the legal representative and defence counsel in court pleadings, without explicitly explaining to them their right to participate in court pleadings and to deliver a final statement, does not constitute a violation of the requirements of criminal procedural law that would have prevented or could have prevented the court from adopting a lawful and well-reasoned decision.

These conclusions were reached by the Second Judicial Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.

According to the circumstances of the criminal proceedings, the courts of lower instances applied compulsory medical measures to the person for committing a socially dangerous act provided for in Part 2 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in the form of placement in a psychiatric care facility under conditions excluding dangerous behaviour, namely hospitalization in a psychiatric institution with enhanced supervision. In the cassation appeal, the defence argued that the court of first instance, after the stage of court pleadings, retired to the deliberation room without granting the person the right to a final statement, which constitutes an unconditional ground for quashing the judicial decisions.

Assessing the cassation arguments, the panel of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court stated that Article 506 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine provides that a person in respect of whom compulsory medical measures may be applied, or for whom the issue of their application is being decided, enjoys the rights of a suspect and an accused (Article 42 of the CPC of Ukraine) and exercises them through a legal representative (Article 44 of the CPC of Ukraine) or defence counsel (Article 52 of the CPC of Ukraine).

The panel found that, in these proceedings, the rights of the person to whom compulsory medical measures had been applied were not violated; the person exercised the rights provided for in Article 42 of the CPC of Ukraine without any restrictions, through their legal representative and defence counsel. Taking into account the nature of the person’s mental disorder, and the fact that the person clearly did not fully understand all stages of the trial, the court afforded them an opportunity to express themselves after the completion of the court pleadings. Furthermore, during the hearing before the cassation court, the panel became satisfied that the person did not understand the stages of the proceedings and responded to the court’s questions with a single memorized phrase.

Resolution of the Second Judicial Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of 24 November 2025 in case No. 334/3871/23 (proceedings No. 51-2553кмп24): https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/132279065. 

This and other legal opinions of the Supreme Court are available in the Database of Legal Positions of the Supreme Court - https://lpd.court.gov.ua.