Compensation of Material Damage Caused by Convicted Person in Penitentiary Facilities Shall Be Conducted Pursuant to Requirements of the Civil Code of Ukraine – SC GC

A convicted person applied to court with a claim to a correctional facility, asking to oblige the defendant to return his belongings, transferred to the facility administration for keeping, and to compensate the value of the attachment for digital television damaged while search in the cell.

The first instance court refused to open proceedings considering that since the plaintiff pointed on the illegal activity of the defendant – the authority, while the consideration of his address regarding the return of property, and asked to oblige the defendant to perform certain actions, these demands should be considered pursuant to rules of administrative judicial proceedings. Appeal court upheld this judgment.

The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court has not agreed with conclusions of courts of the previous instances as for the affiliation of this dispute to administrative jurisdiction in the view of following.

Actions of officials and officers of penitentiary facilities and institutions, as well as of individuals serving sentences, are regulated with relevant special normative acts: Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine”, Internal Rules and Regulations of Penitentiary Facilities.

However, the noted normative acts do not provide the settlement of situation, when officials or officers of penitentiary facilities cause material damage to individuals serving sentences. The compensation of damage in such cases shall be conducted pursuant to norms of the Civil Code of Ukraine.

From the contents of the claim in this case, the demands to settle public and legal dispute are not seen. At the same time, the claimed demands are referred to proprietary ones, and the dispute between the case parties, in the opinion of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, is only private one, taking into account the subjective composition of the legal relations in dispute, the subject of the dispute and norms of substantial and procedural law regulating them.

Thus, the adjudication of the noted dispute is not referred to the jurisdiction of administrative courts, since it shall be considered under the rules of civil judicial proceedings.

Follow the link to see the full text of the Resolution of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court in the case No. 570/1472/19 (proceedings No. № 14-629цс19) of 19 February 2020: http://www.reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/87902768.