Subject of the dispute – challenging a court verdict regarding the conviction of a person for theft of chocolate and headphones with a total value of less than 2,000 hryvnias during martial law. When making the decision, the court was guided by the fact that after the Law No. 3886-IX of 18.07.2024 came into force, the threshold between administrative and criminal liability for theft was changed – from 0.2 to 2 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (2,684.10 hryvnias in 2023). Since the value of the stolen items was less than this amount, and the new law has retroactive effect, the person’s act ceased to be criminally punishable and became an administrative offense.
The Supreme Court revoked the first instance court’s verdict and the appellate court’s ruling, closed the criminal proceedings due to decriminalization of the act, and ordered the release of the convicted person from custody.
