The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has recognized as Constitutional the order of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine on the application of an exceptional preventive measure in the form of detention during martial law to persons suspected or accused of committing certain crimes. About it UNN reports with reference to the court.
The applicants asked the court to check for compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine part six of Article 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine ("the code"), according to which persons suspected or accused of committing crimes under Articles 109-1142, 258-2586, 260, 261, 437-442 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in the presence of risks specified in Article 177 of this code, are subject to the preventive measure defined in paragraph 5 of part one of this article, namely detention
It is reported that from the case materials it can be seen that the authors of the petitions are accused of committing crimes against the foundations of national security of Ukraine. At the hearing, the court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention for both persons.
Subjects of the right to a constitutional complaint are convinced that under Part Six of Article 176 of the Code, a suspect or accused is actually deprived of the right to file a petition for release from custody and the application of an alternative preventive measure to him, so the contested order of the code does not provide the suspect or accused with proper protection from arbitrariness and does not comply with Article 29 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognized that part six of Article 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine is constitutional
The court considers that when applying a preventive measure in the form of detention under Part Six of Article 176 of the code, it is possible, under certain grounds and circumstances defined by articles 177 and 178 of the Code, to apply bail as a more lenient preventive measure. Consequently, according to part six of Article 176 of the Code, a preventive measure in the form of detention is not defined as an uncontested exceptional preventive measure.
In the decision, the court concluded that this provision of the Code provides enhanced guarantees for the protection of the constitutional right to freedom and personal inviolability of a person from arbitrary interference, which are defined in part two of Article 29 of the Constitution of Ukraine