A notice of suspicion has been served

A notice of suspicion is neither a verdict nor an indictment. It is a procedural document of the pre-trial investigation. But from the day it is served, a person with a distinct status appears in the proceedings, and with that, time limits begin to run. What follows is a general orientation, not advice on your case.

What exactly was served on you

The cases in which a person is notified of a suspicion are named in Article 276 of the «Кримінальний процесуальний кодекс» (the code of criminal procedure). The requirements for the content of the written notice — Article 277: among them the substance of the suspicion, the legal classification with a reference to the article of the law on criminal liability, and the rights of the suspect. The procedure for serving it is set by Article 278; for a detained person that Article contains a separate time limit.

A suspicion is not final: the procedure for changing it is established by Article 279. What stands in the document today will not necessarily remain unchanged until the end of the investigation.

Who you now are in the proceedings

A person who has been notified of a suspicion is called a suspect by the Code — Article 42. The same Article lists the rights and duties, and some of those rights must be set out in the served document itself.

The guarantee of the right to a defence — Article 20; the cases in which the participation of a defence counsel is mandatory are named in Article 52. If there is no advocate retained under a contract, a defence counsel is provided by the system of free legal aid — the Law of Ukraine «Про безоплатну правову допомогу» (on free legal aid).

Freedom from self-incrimination and the right not to give testimony concerning oneself, members of one’s family and close relatives are named in Article 63 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 18 of the code of criminal procedure. The procedure of questioning — Article 224.

The time limits that started running from the day of service

The time limit for the pre-trial investigation after a notice of suspicion is set by Article 219; the procedure for extending it — Article 294. Its length depends on the gravity of the criminal offence; the specific figures are named by the advocate from the text of the Code.

The expiry of this time limit is named as a ground for closing the proceedings in п. 10 ч. 1 ст. 284 КПК. The practice of its application is not uniform: panels of the High Anti-Corruption Court and the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court have reached opposite conclusions — there are separate materials on this.

The notice of suspicion itself may also be the subject of a complaint to the investigating judge: it is among the decisions named in Article 303. But not from the day of service — the Code opens this window later and closes it with the end of the pre-trial investigation. The exact time limit is named by the advocate.

What usually follows

The next step of the prosecution often becomes a motion for a preventive measure. Its purpose and grounds are defined by Article 177; the requirements for a motion of the investigator or the prosecutor — Article 184; the procedure for its consideration by the investigating judge — Article 193.

The list of the preventive measures themselves, and of the risks used to justify them, is collected separately. Criminal defence Full legal analysis is published in Ukrainian.

What to do

1. Call an advocate

   Before giving explanations on the substance or signing anything other than the fact of receiving the document itself.

2. Take the full text of the notice

   Not only the page you sign. From here on the defence works with this text, not with a retelling of a conversation.

3. Look at the legal classification — the article and the part

   This is the first thing the advocate needs in order to understand what the matter is about at all.

4. Write down the date and the manner of service

   It is from the day of service that the time limits named above are counted.

5. Do not explain anything “off the record”

   The details of the case are passed to the advocate by voice or in person — not in a messenger and not in a form on a website.

What to read next

Full legal analysis is published in Ukrainian.

If the suspicion was served immediately after a search, there is a separate orientation for that moment. A search is under way