Violence in Transcarpathia

682 days of our struggle for justice for the girl.

Today, a judge of the Volovets District Court announced the verdict that the whole of Ukraine had been waiting for. The defendants in the case of sexual abuse of a girl in Zakarpattia received a real prison term.

The court sentenced each defendant to 6 years in prison. The court did not find any grounds for releasing the defendants from the sentence with a probationary period.

The court partially satisfied the civil claim of the injured party. Of the claimed UAH 450,000 in non-pecuniary damage, the court recovered UAH 300,000 from the defendants, as the defendants had already reimbursed part of it.

The court also took the defendants into custody immediately in the courtroom.

During these 682 days, we:

• succeeded in overturning an unfair previous verdict in the case, which released the defendants from punishment;
• underwent a retrial. A year of hard and persistent struggle, in which we did not allow the defense to delay the case, send it to a new trial and continue to abuse the girl;
• achieved a fair sentence for the defendants – 6 years in prison.

This decision was made possible thanks to the hard work of Miller Law Firm attorneys Natalia Baranova and Ilya Vorobyov, attorneys Roksoliana Hera and Marta Zmysla, as well as prosecutors from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

We handled this case pro bono because we believe that justice should be accessible to everyone. For us, this is not just a case, but a principle – to protect those who cannot stand up to the system on their own and to ensure that the perpetrators are punished.

We remind you that after the first trial, the court found the defendants guilty, but released them from punishment with a 2-year probationary period. We could not allow this decision to remain unchanged. Our team of lawyers stepped in and appealed the case.

The Court of Appeal decided not to take responsibility and sent the girl to suffer a new trial in the Volovets District Court.

The new trial was not easy and was a real test of strength on the path to justice. Opponents tried to delay it by all possible means: illegal mobilization of 18-year-old defendants by the Obukhiv TCC, recusal of judges, changes of lawyers, sudden “illnesses”. But we withstood all these challenges and attracted public support. Within a day, the Ministry of Defense responded to the illegal mobilization of the accused and denied them. We did not let every abuse of the defendants and their lawyers go unreacted to, and in the end, we did not allow the case to be delayed, sent for a new trial, and won.

What’s next?

There will most likely be an appeal. Therefore, our fight continues
We thank everyone who follows this case and supports the victim.
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