How to submit an ordinary appeal to the prosecutor’s office

When you may need this

This guide is for anyone who wants to submit a pro­pos­al, ap­pli­ca­tion, or com­plaint to a pros­e­cu­tor’s office that is not a pro­ce­dur­al doc­u­ment in crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings and is not covered by another special pro­ce­dure. For example, an appeal may concern the or­ga­ni­za­tion of an in-person ap­point­ment, the office’s work process, em­ploy­ees’ conduct outside a spe­cif­ic pro­ce­dur­al action, or another matter within the pros­e­cu­tor’s ju­ris­dic­tion.

The main risk is choos­ing the wrong pro­ce­dure, not the wrong address. If the text in sub­stance reports a crim­i­nal offense, the ap­pli­cant expects entry into the Unified Reg­is­ter of Pre-Trial In­ves­ti­ga­tions, or chal­lenges in­ac­tion in pro­ceed­ings, the general Law on Cit­i­zens’ Appeals should not replace the Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dure Code. In that sit­u­a­tion, use the sep­a­rate guide on chal­leng­ing a pros­e­cu­tor’s or in­ves­ti­ga­tor’s in­ac­tion.

In Kyiv and Kyiv region, do not guess which office to name. Iden­ti­fy the sub­stance of your request, check the pros­e­cu­tor’s statu­to­ry func­tions, and verify the current channel and level of office on an of­fi­cial re­source im­me­di­ate­ly before filing. This guide de­lib­er­ate­ly does not re­pro­duce ad­dress­es or re­cep­tion hours, which may change.

What time limit or procedure applies

An or­di­nary appeal must include the ap­pli­cant’s details, the issue raised, and a spe­cif­ic request, and must meet the re­quire­ments for the chosen paper or elec­tron­ic format. An anony­mous appeal or one missing re­quired in­for­ma­tion may not be re­viewed on its merits, so check your contact details and pre­ferred re­sponse method before sending it.

If the issue is outside the pros­e­cu­tor’s powers, the appeal must be for­ward­ed to the proper au­thor­i­ty within five days and the ap­pli­cant must be no­ti­fied. For­mu­late your request so it is clear what action you expect from the pros­e­cu­tor’s office itself. For­ward­ing does not resolve the issue on its merits: af­ter­ward, obtain the new reg­is­tra­tion details and follow up with the proper re­cip­i­ent.

For an appeal that does not require ad­di­tion­al ex­am­i­na­tion, the law pro­vides for prompt res­o­lu­tion, but no later than 15 days after receipt. The general period is no more than one month. If the issue cannot be re­solved within a month, the head of the office or a deputy may set the time needed and notify the ap­pli­cant, but the total period must not exceed 45 days.

The citizen appeal review dead­line cal­cu­la­tor shows the 15-day, one-month, and 45-day bench­marks from in­com­ing reg­is­tra­tion. It does not let you “assign” your­self a shorter dead­line and stops cal­cu­lat­ing for a crime report, a Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dure Code doc­u­ment, a public in­for­ma­tion request, or another special pro­ce­dure.

If you need an ex­ist­ing copy of a doc­u­ment or record­ed data, use the sep­a­rate guide on how to submit a public in­for­ma­tion request and its re­sponse-dead­line cal­cu­la­tor. This helps keep five working days for an in­for­ma­tion request sep­a­rate from the cal­en­dar used for an or­di­nary appeal.

How to proceed step by step

First, define one prac­ti­cal outcome: what in­for­ma­tion about your own appeal, review within the pros­e­cu­tor’s ju­ris­dic­tion, or­ga­ni­za­tion­al action, or rea­soned re­sponse are you asking for? Do not ask the pros­e­cu­tor’s office to cancel a private con­tract, resolve a civil dispute, or punish someone outside a pro­ce­dure es­tab­lished by law.

Next, prepare a concise time­line. For each event, give the date, par­tic­i­pant, doc­u­ment, and ev­i­dence sup­port­ing the fact. If you have already con­tact­ed another au­thor­i­ty in Kyiv or the region, attach a copy of that appeal, proof of reg­is­tra­tion, and the com­plete re­sponse—not only the excerpt that sup­ports your po­si­tion.

State your request in a sep­a­rate para­graph. It must match the pros­e­cu­tor’s func­tions and the facts you have de­scribed. If you are unsure whether the events show signs of a crim­i­nal offense, do not dis­guise that un­cer­tain­ty as an or­di­nary appeal; first de­ter­mine the correct pro­ce­dur­al route.

Before filing, number the at­tach­ments and keep an iden­ti­cal copy of the com­plete package. For mail, retain the in­ven­to­ry of en­clo­sures and receipt; for an elec­tron­ic channel, keep the appeal file, at­tach­ments, and tech­ni­cal con­fir­ma­tion; for an office filing, keep a copy bearing an in­com­ing stamp. Once ac­cept­ed, record the in­com­ing number and reg­is­tra­tion date.

What to check before filing

Ask four ques­tions about the doc­u­ment. Does the request fall within the pros­e­cu­tor’s func­tions? Is the text ac­tu­al­ly a report of a crim­i­nal offense or a pro­ce­dur­al motion? Can each key date be ver­i­fied from an at­tach­ment? Does the final para­graph make clear what re­sponse or action you expect?

Dis­tin­guish the date of sending, de­liv­ery, and reg­is­tra­tion. The con­firmed in­com­ing date is the key date for cal­cu­lat­ing the re­sponse period. If an elec­tron­ic form showed only suc­cess­ful sub­mis­sion but not reg­is­tra­tion, keep that ev­i­dence and ask for the ref­er­ence number through an of­fi­cial channel.

Do not attach a large col­lec­tion of files without ex­pla­na­tion. In the text or at­tach­ment list, briefly state which fact each doc­u­ment sup­ports. Do not send orig­i­nals unless the law or an of­fi­cial re­quire­ment ex­press­ly calls for them; keep a com­plete copy for your records.

If the au­thor­i­ty’s re­sponse is in sub­stance an ad­min­is­tra­tive de­ci­sion, or its in­ac­tion vi­o­lates a right, the next route may be an ad­min­is­tra­tive court. First check ju­ris­dic­tion, any special dead­line, and the ap­pro­pri­ate remedy in the guide on chal­leng­ing a de­ci­sion by a public au­thor­i­ty, rather than filing a claim merely because you dis­agree with the wording of a letter.

When to consult a lawyer

A legal review is useful when an appeal com­bines pos­si­ble signs of a crime, pro­ce­dur­al in­ac­tion, and a general com­plaint; when earlier letters are passed between au­thor­i­ties; when the reply does not address the issue; or when silence leaves you choos­ing between a repeat appeal, a pro­ce­dur­al com­plaint, and a court claim.

For a matter in Kyiv or Kyiv region, a lawyer can check ju­ris­dic­tion, sep­a­rate the general and special pro­ce­dures, reduce the time­line to ver­i­fi­able facts, and for­mu­late a request without promis­ing an outcome. In par­tic­u­lar, do not wait 45 days if the doc­u­ment ac­tu­al­ly con­cerns a shorter dead­line under the Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dure Code or another special rule.