Subject of the dispute is the legality of convicting a person for an attempted theft of goods worth 1,129.24 hryvnias and 311.77 hryvnias during martial law. The court was guided by the fact that according to the new Law No. 3886-IX dated 18.07.2024, which has retroactive effect, the threshold value of property for qualifying theft as a criminal offense was changed – from 0.2 to 2 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (which in 2022 amounted to 2,481 hryvnias). Since the value of the stolen property was less than this amount, the act ceased to be criminally punishable and became an administrative offense.
The Supreme Court revoked the verdict of the first instance court and the appellate court’s ruling and closed the criminal proceedings, as the law establishing criminal liability for this act had lost its force.
