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Lawyer services Removal of arrest from a car in criminal proceedings

Kulikov Igor

Attorney

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kulykov@prikhodko.com.ua

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Lawyer, specializing in defense in criminal proceedings regarding serious and especially serious crimes - against life and health, sexual integrity, war crimes with aggravating circumstances, as well as in cases related to violations in the field of taxation

Removal of arrest from a car in criminal proceedings

Quite often, clients turn to us with the question: is it possible to return a seized car during criminal proceedings? What is it about? The investigator or other representatives of law enforcement agencies seize the car for a long time – a month, six months, a year. At the same time, no actions are taken in the current criminal case involving the person whose vehicle was confiscated. All this time, the car is, for example, in the parking lot near the police station. In most cases, this vehicle is impounded. It deprives the owner of the right to use his car. In this article, the lawyers of our Prykhodko and Partners law office will tell you how to remove the seizure from a car in a criminal case.

The price of support in criminal proceedings

Ways to remove the arrest in a criminal case

Arrest in a criminal case is removed on the basis of one of the following ways:

Appealing the court decision on restriction of property use. This procedure is carried out on appeal.
Appeal to the courts with a request to cancel the arrest.

Let’s consider each of the cases. It is possible to appeal the decision on the impoundment of the car within 5 days from the moment it was adopted. If the suspect in the criminal case was absent from the court session – from the moment a copy of the decision is received. It is possible to appeal to the court in cases where the court of first instance made an unfounded and illegal decision.

If the purpose of the arrest is to secure a civil action or confiscation (both possible and special), the value of the property seized and the gravity of the crime charged against the suspect must be taken into account.

In our practice, we quite often come across cases when investigative judges impose an arrest on a person’s property in the absence of a clearly defined suspect or accused in criminal proceedings. Such a violation is a serious reason for appealing against this decision.

According to the current Ukrainian legislation, the seizure of property should not become an obstacle to the full-fledged activity of the legal entity whose property was seized.

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Peculiarities of the procedure for removing the seizure from the car

Let’s start with the fact that Article 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine clearly states that any of the following persons can apply to the investigating judge with a request to remove the seizure from the car:

The identity of the suspect.
The person of the accused.
Defender in a criminal case.

An important issue is the extent of cancellation of the seizure of the vehicle. According to the provisions of Article 174 of the Criminal Code, the seizure of a car can be partially or completely canceled.

Depending on the specific circumstances of the case, our lawyers choose one of the options:

Apply for a partial cancellation of the seizure
Apply for a full cancellation of the arrest.

All these petitions are sent to the investigating judge.

This is due to the fact that the stage of pre-trial investigation may still be ongoing during the review of the petition. At the same time, the car can be identified as physical evidence in the case, that is, it can be subject to confiscation. That is why, in most cases, we apply for a partial cancellation of the seizure. That is, the car is handed over to its owner for responsible storage.

Removal of arrest from a car in criminal proceedings

Ways to remove the arrest in a criminal case

Peculiarities of the procedure for removing the seizure from the car

Andrey Prikhodko