Representation of the victim

According to Article 55 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

1. A victim in criminal proceedings may be a natural person to whom moral, physical or property damage has been caused by a criminal offense, as well as a legal person to whom property damage has been caused by a criminal offense.

2. The rights and obligations of a victim arise for a person from the moment of filing a statement about a criminal offense committed against him or a statement about bringing him to proceedings as a victim.

The victim is given a manual of procedural rights and obligations by the person who receives the statement of a criminal offense.

3. A victim is also a person who is not the complainant, but to whom harm was caused by a criminal offence and as a result, after the commencement of criminal proceedings, he has filed an application to be brought to trial as a victim.

4. The victim cannot be a person who has suffered moral damage as a representative of a legal entity or a certain part of the society.

5. If as a result of a criminal offence the death of a person has occurred or the person is in a state that precludes him/her from submitting a corresponding application, the provisions of parts one to three of this Article shall apply to the close relatives or family members of such person. One person from among close relatives or family members who has submitted an application to be considered as a victim shall be recognized as a victim, while several persons may be recognized as victims upon an appropriate application.

Once a person in a condition that precluded him from filing the relevant application has acquired the ability to exercise procedural rights, he may file an application to be brought to trial as a victim.

According to paragraph 8 of part 1 of Article 56 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, during the criminal proceedings the victim has the right to have a representative and at any moment of the criminal proceedings to refuse his services.

According to Article 58 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

1. The victim in criminal proceedings may be presented by a representative – a person who in criminal proceedings is entitled to be a defender.
2. A representative of a legal entity, which is an injured party, may be its head, another person authorized by law or constituent documents, an employee of the legal entity by proxy, as well as a person who has the right to be a defender in criminal proceedings.
3. The representative shall exercise the procedural rights of the victim, whose interests he/she represents, except for the procedural rights, the realization of which is carried out directly by the victim and cannot be entrusted to the representative.

Representation of the victim in criminal proceedings is no less relevant than protection of the suspect, because only professional representation will allow to bring to criminal responsibility the person who committed the criminal offense, and to compensate through the court for moral, physical and property damage.

Bohomaz Andrii Pavlovych offers representation in criminal proceedings in Kyiv, Ukraine.