A suspended sentence

We previously reported on the verdict under Part 2 of Article 121 of the Criminal Code (causing serious bodily injury resulting in the victim’s death) regarding a client of Barristers Law Firm. Here are the details of the case.
The case began in 2015, when a seventh-grader died in the intensive care unit after being beaten by unknown assailants at school. Among several suspects, the investigation brought charges against a student—our client. As it later turned out, the suspicion was based solely on the fact that our client had accompanied the seventh-grader to the school nurse when he saw that the boy was feeling unwell. The
boy spent four months in pretrial detention. This high-profile case lasted over 8 years in total.
Initially, the defendant was sentenced to 8 years in prison. However, the appellate court remanded the case for a new trial. This required numerous interviews with students and the involvement of many experts. A meticulous comparison of the timing of the actual events with the timeline presented by the investigation played a crucial role.
Ultimately, on February 25, 2020, the Sosnivsky District Court of Cherkasy Oblast fully acquitted our client. Prosecutors filed an appeal against the acquittal, but the appellate court dismissed it.
The review of the prosecutors’ cassation appeal concluded on August 30, 2022, with a ruling by the Cassation Criminal Court within the Supreme Court upholding the acquittal. The client of Barristers LLP has been definitively acquitted and exonerated.
The defense in the case was led by attorney Denis Vasilyevich Ponomarenko—partner and head of the Odessa office of Barristers Law Firm—as well as our colleague, attorney Serhiy Ivaniv (second photo).