Attachment of property

An account is frozen, a car is taken, a charge on a flat appears in the register. From here everything is measured in days: when the application is filed, when the investigating judge (слідчий суддя) examines it, within what time an appeal is lodged. Below is how this institution is built and what governs each of its steps.

What attachment of property is

Attachment of property stands among the measures to secure criminal proceedings — ст. 131 КПК; the general rules for such measures — ст. 132 КПК; the grounds and content of the attachment itself — ст. 170 КПК. Confiscation is a different institution: as a penalty — ст. 59 КК; special confiscation — ст. 96-1 and ст. 96-2 КК.

Seizure and attachment are different things A thing taken during a search or a detention is first seized temporarily: the grounds — ст. 167 КПК, the procedure — ст. 168 КПК, its termination — ст. 169 КПК. An attachment is imposed separately, by a ruling of the investigating judge or of the court. So what you hold may be a record (протокол), may be a ruling (ухвала), and may be both.

Who decides

The application for attachment of property — ст. 171 КПК; its examination and who takes part in it — ст. 172 КПК; the decision on the merits — ст. 173 КПК; the enforcement of the ruling — ст. 175 КПК. What must be proved and what the court takes into account — ст. 132 and ст. 173 КПК.

What to do

1. Establish which document you are holding

   A record of temporary seizure — ст. 168 КПК; a ruling on attachment — ст. 173 КПК. Different documents, and everything that follows depends on which one you have.

2. Check the list of property

   The scope of the attachment is read from the list in the document. Checking it against what was actually taken is worth doing now — while the memory of that day is still exact.

3. Gather the documents on the property

   Title to the property and the origin of funds are shown by documents. They are gathered before the hearing, not during it.

4. Find out where the property is

   The keeping of physical evidence and the transfer of property into management are governed by ст. 100 КПК; attached assets are managed by a separate agency — АРМА. Where a thing has gone is established at once.

5. Do not put off the question of appeal

   The rulings of the investigating judge that may be appealed during the pre-trial investigation are listed in ст. 309 КПК; a separate route is an application to lift the attachment, ст. 174 КПК. The time for lodging an appeal is limited; what it is exactly — a question for the advocate.

What you must not do

1. Do not deal with the property until the ruling has been read

   Different rulings restrict in different ways, and the extent of the restriction is defined by the text of the ruling. Until it has been read, even what exactly is forbidden is unknown.

2. Do not seek “arrangements” instead of the procedure

   The question of the attachment and of its lifting is decided by the investigating judge or the court — ст. 173 and ст. 174 КПК. Anyone who promises to resolve it otherwise is offering not a procedural route but a separate risk.

3. Do not describe the circumstances in a messenger or a form on a website

   The details of the case are passed to the advocate by voice or in person.

If you are not the suspect

An attachment reaches even someone who is not a party to the proceedings: the owner of a thing, a landlord, a company, a relative. Procedurally this is a distinct figure — a third person concerning whose property the question of attachment is decided, ст. 64-2 КПК.

The right of property is enshrined in Article 41 of the Constitution of Ukraine; the protection of property — in Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Who may apply for the lifting of an attachment is set by ст. 174 КПК, and it is not confined to the suspect.

What this page does not cover

This page is about attachment of property in criminal proceedings. Property is also attached in other processes — civil, commercial, enforcement, tax: there the acts, the time limits and the route of appeal are different. Restrictions on assets under sanctions decisions stand apart.

How the criminal process itself is built — its stages and what is decided at each — is gathered separately, in the association’s practice area on criminal defence, published in Ukrainian.

What to read next

If the property was taken during a search — what to do on the spot is gathered separately. A search is under way

Your equipment has been seized

Attachment of property also appears in the association’s materials — as the limit of interference in private communication.