11 March 2026

On 11 March 2026, during the public part of its plenary session, the First Senate considered the case in written proceedings based upon a constitutional complaint filed by Trofimova Nadiia.

During the plenary session, the judge-rapporteur in the case, Olga Sovgyria, reported that Trofimova Nadiia had appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine with a request to review the constitutionality of Article 26.4 and paragraph 7 of Article 284.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter the “Code”).

According to the contested provisions of the Code:

•  criminal proceedings in the form of private prosecution shall be initiated only on the basis of a statement by the victim; the refusal of the victim, or in cases provided for by the Code, his representative, to press charges is an unconditional ground for closing criminal proceedings in the form of a private prosecution (Article 26.4);
•  criminal proceedings shall be closed if „ the victim, or in cases provided for by this Code, his or her representative, has refused to bring charges in criminal proceedings in the form of a private prosecution, except for criminal proceedings concerning a criminal offence related to domestic violence“ (paragraph 7 of Article 284.1).

The judge-rapporteur reported on the progress of the case in the courts of the judicial system, noting that during the court proceedings, the victim filed a motion to close the criminal proceedings in the form of a private prosecution against Trofimova Nadiia in connection with his withdrawal of the charges.  Trofimova Nadiia objected to the closure of these criminal proceedings on the basis of paragraph 7 of Article 284.1 of the Code, since, in her opinion, this ground was not rehabilitating.

The court of first instance granted the victim's request and closed the criminal proceedings against Trofimova Nadiia on the basis of paragraph 7 of Article 284.1 of the Code. The Court of Appeal noted that the closure of criminal proceedings in the event of the victim's refusal to press charges on the grounds specified in paragraph 7 of Article 284.1 of the Code is an unconditional obligation of the court; the victim's refusal to press charges makes it impossible to consider the criminal proceedings due to the absence of the subject matter of the court proceedings.

The Supreme Court denied Trofimova Nadiia request to initiate cassation proceedings.

The author of the petition believes that the application by the courts of Article 26.4 and paragraph 7 of Article 284.1 of the Code violates, in particular, the presumption of innocence of the person, as well as their constitutional rights to respect for human dignity and judicial protection.

After examining the case materials, the Court proceeded to a in-camera part of the plenary session  to deliver its decision.

Nadiia Trofimova, subject of the constitutional complaint, participated in the plenary session.

A video recording of the plenary session is available on the Court's official website under the heading “Archive of video broadcasts of sessions”.