Appeals against rulings on corrections to court decisions or refusal to make such corrections must follow the same procedure as the underlying decision – SC CrimCC Joint Chamber

When resolving this issue, the restrictions on the right to appeal a court decision provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine must be taken into account.

This conclusion was reached by the Joint Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court following consideration of case No. 712/11657/25.

In this criminal proceeding, the investigating judge of the local court issued a ruling dismissing the complaint against the prosecutor’s inaction because the criminal proceedings had been closed. However, in the operative part of the ruling issued pursuant to Part 2 of Article 376 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, it was stated that the complaint had been upheld and that certain actions were to be taken. Subsequently, under Article 379 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the investigating judge of the local court corrected this obvious error in the operative part of the ruling and clarified that the complaint about the prosecutor’s inaction had been dismissed.

Disagreeing with the investigating judge’s ruling on the correction of the clerical error, the complainant filed an appeal. The appellate court refused to open proceedings, noting that a ruling of an investigating judge on correcting a clerical error is not included in the list of court decisions that may be appealed separately during the pre-trial investigation under Article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. In her cassation appeal, the complainant argued that the appellate court had deprived her of the right to appellate review as provided for in Part 3 of Article 379 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

Assessing these cassation arguments, the Joint Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court stated that, when resolving issues related to correcting clerical errors or obvious arithmetic mistakes in a court decision, the court is not entitled to alter the substance of that decision. The operative part of a court decision issued pursuant to Part 2 of Article 376 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine may also be subject to review upon an application to correct clerical errors or obvious arithmetic mistakes. At the same time, introducing changes to the operative part of a court decision under Article 379 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine that alter the essence of the decision is inadmissible.

The content of a ruling on corrections to a court decision is always interconnected with the content of the decision being amended. Therefore, when such a ruling is challenged on appeal or in cassation, the assessment of its legality in terms of content must be carried out simultaneously with the assessment of the amended court decision. Since, under Part 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, a ruling of an investigating judge dismissing a complaint about a prosecutor’s inaction is not subject to appeal, a ruling of the same court introducing corrections to it likewise cannot be subject to appellate review.

Resolution of the Joint Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court dated March 9, 2026 in case No. 712/11657/25 (proceeding No. 51-3615кмо25): https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/134881170  

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