Judicial practice under Art. 263 of the Criminal Code in the case of illegal carrying, storage, acquisition, transfer or sale of firearms

According to the current legislation, in Ukraine every person has the right to purchase weapons for self-defense, hunting or sports. The main thing is to get the appropriate permission and not have problems with the law. Illegal carrying, storage, acquisition, transfer or sale of firearms is punishable under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In this article, lawyers Prykhodko and Partners will analyze the judicial practice of cases under this article.

Liability under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine

The liability provided for in Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine depends on the offense committed. For example, the possession, carrying, purchase or sale of firearms, explosive devices or explosive substances without the appropriate permit is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 3 to 7 years. If we are talking about the manufacture, carrying or sale of cold weapons, fines, community service, restrictions or deprivation of liberty for a term of up to 3 years are provided for.

Important: persons who voluntarily surrendered ammunition, weapons, explosive devices and explosives to the authorities are exempted from criminal liability.

Judicial practice under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine

In most cases, the main offense in crimes under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is public relations in the sphere of trafficking in explosives, military supplies, and arms trafficking. A weapon acts as a thing, i.e., property. The legal regime of ownership is regulated only by laws (in particular, Article 92 of the Constitution of Ukraine), and there is no separate law on the regulation of arms circulation.

Such irregularity contradicts not only the Constitution of Ukraine, but also the Civil Code. Therefore, there is no separate law that would regulate the rules of arms circulation, there is no objective side of the crime (one of its integral components). The absence of such a law does not allow one to fully understand the boundary between legal and illegal behavior. This indicates the absence of a subjective aspect of the crime. Illegal actions reflected in Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine refer to the law itself (pay attention to the phrase: “without the permission provided by law”). Today, it does not exist in Ukraine, which completely excludes the objective side of the crime.

Thus, when at least 1 element of the crime is missing, the composition of the criminal offense is not complete. This, in turn, makes it impossible to bring a person to justice and is a reason for closing criminal proceedings.

Assistance of a lawyer under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine

If you are charged under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, you must enlist the support of a professional lawyer. Prykhodko and Partners lawyers:

1. They will make sure that all procedural documents are drawn up according to all the rules. If the lawyer notices violations, he will challenge them.
2. The expert’s conclusions will be analyzed for the presence of distorted or false information.
3. They will note the biased display of the reality of the video recording of investigative actions.

Lawyers Prykhodko and Partners have considerable experience in the field of protection of the rights of suspects/accused under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

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