Detention in Custody is Not a Verdict: Victory on Appeal

The Grain Law Firm team continues to successfully defend the interests of clients in cases where pressure on businesses is exerted through fabricated allegations of offenses against the foundations of national security. This time, the team of attorneys secured a mitigation of the pretrial restriction for a Client within criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (aiding and abetting the aggressor state).

The court of first instance had granted the prosecutor’s motion and applied the most severe pretrial restriction to the Client (an employee of a holding company)—detention in custody without the option of bail.

Alina Davydova, Counsel and Attorney-at-Law at Grain Law Firm, appealed this decision. The defense presented evidence to the court demonstrating the groundlessness of the individual’s complete isolation and the lack of justification for the procedural risks to such an extent. The Court of Appeal concurred with the attorney’s arguments, recognized the ruling of the first-instance investigating judge as unlawful, and vacated it.

Thanks to the correctly structured legal positioning of the defense, the Client was granted an alternative—the option of bail in the amount of UAH 1.5 million, following which he was released from custody. This case serves as an example that a severe restriction of liberty under Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is not without alternative and can be reviewed upon the presentation of proper legal justification.

The text of the court ruling is available in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions under Case No. 761/13951/25.