How to appeal in criminal proceedings

When this is needed

This guide applies after a judg­ment, a ruling on com­pul­so­ry medical or ed­u­ca­tion­al mea­sures, another sep­a­rate­ly ap­peal­able first-in­stance ruling or an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge ruling. First iden­ti­fy the exact court act rather than im­me­di­ate­ly draft­ing ar­gu­ments. The act de­ter­mines the dead­line, trigger date and filing method.

For a ruling, find the appeal in­struc­tions in its op­er­a­tive part and verify them under the Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dure Code. Article 309 lists in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge rulings that may be ap­pealed during a pre-trial in­ves­ti­ga­tion. Article 392 iden­ti­fies first-in­stance de­ci­sions and permits sep­a­rate appeals against certain de­ten­tion rulings before a de­ci­sion on the merits. If you have not iden­ti­fied the act, a cal­cu­la­tor date can create false con­fi­dence.

Applicable time limit or procedure

Article 395 of the CPC sets 30 days for a judg­ment and de­ci­sions on com­pul­so­ry medical or ed­u­ca­tion­al mea­sures, 7 days for another sep­a­rate­ly ap­peal­able first-in­stance ruling and 5 days for an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge ruling. Certain Article 392 rulings se­lect­ing, chang­ing or ex­tend­ing de­ten­tion before a de­ci­sion on the merits also have a 5-day period.

The crim­i­nal appeal dead­line cal­cu­la­tor first asks you to confirm the type of ruling and whether it may be ap­pealed sep­a­rate­ly. The period starts on the next cal­en­dar day. If the final day falls on Sat­ur­day or Sunday, the tool moves it to Monday. Public hol­i­days are not built in: during martial law Article 73 of the Labour Code does not apply, and the court reg­istry’s actual sched­ule should be checked sep­a­rate­ly.

The general trigger is pro­nounce­ment. If the court an­nounced only the op­er­a­tive part, do not wait for the full text on the as­sump­tion that the period has not started. For a de­tained person, the period runs from service of a copy. Receipt is also the trigger for an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge or court ruling made without sum­mon­ing the person, and for a judg­ment under Article 382 of the CPC issued without a summons. A person’s absence after being sum­moned is not the same as a de­ci­sion made without a summons.

File a judg­ment or or­di­nary first-in­stance ruling through the court that issued it. File an appeal against an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge ruling or a spec­i­fied de­ten­tion ruling di­rect­ly with the ap­pel­late court.

Steps to take

Obtain a copy of the court act and record the pro­ceed­ing number, pro­nounce­ment date, service date, exact name of the de­ci­sion and appeal in­struc­tions. Check these against the hearing log, receipt, in­sti­tu­tion cer­tifi­cate or elec­tron­ic system notice. Do not choose the later receipt date merely because it is later.

De­ter­mine the route. For a judg­ment from a Kyiv dis­trict court, address the appeal to the Kyiv Court of Appeal but file it through the dis­trict court. For an ap­peal­able ruling of that dis­trict’s in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge, file di­rect­ly with the Kyiv Court of Appeal. The same ap­pel­late court is gen­er­al­ly used for courts in Kyiv region, but the High Anti-Cor­rup­tion Court and other special ju­ris­dic­tions have their own routes.

State spe­cif­ic relief within the ap­pel­late court’s powers. Tie each ground to a case record and legal rule: what was wrong, where it appears and how it af­fect­ed the de­ci­sion. Check all par­tic­i­pants’ details, sig­na­ture, counsel’s au­thor­i­ty, at­tach­ment list and file leg­i­bil­i­ty.

If the period may have expired, do not send only an ap­pli­ca­tion. File the appeal to­geth­er with a request for restora­tion under Article 117 of the CPC and ev­i­dence such as medical records, proof of de­ten­tion, com­mu­ni­ca­tions outages, evac­u­a­tion or another spe­cif­ic ob­sta­cle. Article 615 does not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly extend time merely because martial law exists.

What to check before filing

Check that the CPC allows a sep­a­rate appeal against this ruling. Read the op­er­a­tive part and Ar­ti­cles 307, 309 and 392. Then verify the trigger again: pro­nounce­ment, service on a de­tained person or receipt of a de­ci­sion made without a summons. If ev­i­dence about the start date con­flicts, use the safer earlier date and explain both dates.

For per­son­al filing, the reg­istry’s closing time on the final day matters. For mail, keep the receipt, en­clo­sure in­ven­to­ry and track­ing record: de­liv­ery to the post before the period expires must be prov­able. A de­tained person should obtain con­fir­ma­tion that the com­plaint was handed to the in­sti­tu­tion ad­min­is­tra­tion on time. For elec­tron­ic filing, keep every receipt, not just the doc­u­ment draft.

When to consult a lawyer

Seek prompt review if only a few days remain, only the op­er­a­tive part was an­nounced, the person is de­tained, the ruling’s in­clu­sion under Article 309 is unclear or the dead­line may already have been missed. Also do not delay if the first-in­stance court is the High Anti-Cor­rup­tion Court, the route through a local court is unclear or restora­tion under Ar­ti­cles 117 or 615 may be needed.

For a Kyiv pro­ceed­ing, a lawyer can check the route between the dis­trict court and the Kyiv Court of Appeal, whether the ruling is ap­peal­able, the re­quest­ed relief and proof of timely filing. This cannot guar­an­tee that pro­ceed­ings will be opened or a par­tic­u­lar result, but it reduces pro­ce­dur­al-error risk.