Subject of Dispute: Cassation review of a sentence against a person convicted of death threats and theft during martial law.
Key Court Arguments: The court drew attention to legislative changes introduced by Law No. 3886-IX dated 18.07.2024, which decriminalized petty theft of property valued less than 2 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens. Since the value of stolen property in both episodes was less than the established statutory subsistence minimum as of January 1, 2023, these actions are no longer criminally punishable. The court referred to the principle of retroactive effect of law in time, enshrined in Article 58 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 5 of the Criminal Code.
Court Decision: The Supreme Court closed the criminal proceedings under the theft article (Part 4 of Article 185 of the Criminal Code) and left in force the punishment only for death threats in the form of restriction of liberty for 2 years.
