The Supreme Court has delivered the final word in high-profile criminal case, upholding our client’s acquittal by the court of first instance and the ruling of the court of appeal.
Back in 2020, this case sparked significant public resonance due to the prominence of the parties involved and the media-savvy “support group” of the victims. It triggered headlines in top-tier media, thousands of views on YouTube, celebrity podcasts… and even led to public protests outside the Kyiv City State Administration.
The legal battle was just as intense: facing powerful opponents, full-scale battles were fought at every instance and during every single hearing. The irreconcilability of the parties’ positions and their ingenuity in presenting them – worthy of a Homeric epic – seemed to influence the judges as well. Case in point: a dissenting opinion at the cassation level that featured the infamous oxymoron “irrebuttable presumptions of fact” 🦉🌐.
The defense relied on three main pillars:
✔️ Inadmissibility of evidence (dismissed by the Supreme Court, in our view, due to the limited description of this argument in the verdict; this is why we always advise clients in such cases to appeal the reasoning of a decision, even if it is ruled in their favor);
✔️ Lack of specificity in the indictment (established in the first two instances and not challenged in the cassation appeals);
✔️ Absence of the elements of a criminal offense (lack of intent) — the core argument for the acquittal, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
According to official statistics, the acquittal rate in Ukraine is a mere 1%.
For ESQUIRES, this case serves as yet another confirmation that rigorous, consistent work and a well-calculated legal strategy can deliver a just result even in high-stakes, media-heavy criminal proceedings.
The final victory at the Supreme Court is the natural culmination of nearly six years of dedicated work on this case.
The defense of the client’s interests and the development of the legal strategy were led by Opanas Karlin, Senior Partner and Head of the Criminal Law and Business Defense Practice at ESQUIRES.
