$150,000 for closing the case: court acquits two former Kyiv prosecutors after 10 years of consideration

The court acquitted the former prosecutor of the Podilskyi district of Kyiv, Serhiy Nechyporenko, and the former deputy prosecutor of the same district, Oleksiy Bily. In 2015, they were detained in a case of allegedly receiving $150,000 for closing a criminal case. The trial lasted about ten years.

According to media reports, the investigation claimed that Oleksiy Bily, through Serhiy Nechyporenko, demanded $150,000 from the brother of a defendant in one of the criminal cases for assistance in closing the case.

At the time of his detention, Nechyporenko was no longer working in the prosecutor’s office – he was fired in 2015 as part of the lustration.

Why did the court acquit the ex-prosecutors

One of the key reasons for the acquittal was the problems with collecting and processing evidence.

As noted in the material, the court did not take into account a significant part of the evidence base due to violations that law enforcement officers committed during the investigation.

In particular, searches were conducted in the offices of the defendants even before the relevant judge’s ruling was received.

The court also had questions about the protocol on obtaining an unlawful benefit. Discrepancies were found in the materials regarding the number of banknotes, and doubts arose regarding the witnesses.

As a result, some of the evidence was not used as the basis for the court decision.

The case lasted about ten years

The investigation began back in 2015, but the final decision in the case had to be waited for about a decade.

Based on the results of the consideration, the court acquitted Serhiy Nechyporenko and Oleksiy Bily.

Thus, the case became an illustrative example of how critical it is in criminal proceedings to comply with the procedure established by law for obtaining and recording evidence. Even evidence that the prosecution considers important may not be taken into account by the court if procedural violations were committed during its receipt.