How to appeal in criminal proceedings

When this is needed

This guide is needed when a judg­ment, a de­ci­sion on com­pul­so­ry mea­sures, another first-in­stance court ruling or an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge ruling has been pro­nounced in crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings. Before cal­cu­lat­ing the dead­line, read the op­er­a­tive part: the doc­u­ment’s name in cor­re­spon­dence or a reg­is­ter may not show whether a sep­a­rate appeal is allowed.

For a pre-trial in­ves­ti­ga­tion, check Ar­ti­cles 307 and 309 of the CPC. Not every outcome of an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge’s con­sid­er­a­tion of a com­plaint may be ap­pealed im­me­di­ate­ly. For a court trial, check Article 392, in­clud­ing the special route for se­lect­ing, chang­ing or ex­tend­ing de­ten­tion before a de­ci­sion on the merits.

Applicable time limit or procedure

Article 395 of the CPC sets 30 days for a judg­ment and de­ci­sions on com­pul­so­ry medical or ed­u­ca­tion­al mea­sures, 7 days for another sep­a­rate­ly ap­peal­able first-in­stance ruling and 5 days for an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge ruling. Spec­i­fied rulings se­lect­ing, chang­ing or ex­tend­ing de­ten­tion before a de­ci­sion on the merits also have a 5-day period.

The crim­i­nal appeal dead­line cal­cu­la­tor first asks you to confirm the type of ruling and whether it may be ap­pealed sep­a­rate­ly. The period starts on the next cal­en­dar day. If the final day falls on Sat­ur­day or Sunday, the tool moves it to Monday. Public hol­i­days are not built in: during martial law Article 73 of the Labour Code does not apply, and the court reg­istry’s actual sched­ule should be checked sep­a­rate­ly.

The general trigger is pro­nounce­ment. If the court an­nounced only the op­er­a­tive part, do not wait for the full text on the as­sump­tion that the period has not started. For a de­tained person, the period runs from service of a copy. Receipt is also the trigger for an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge or court ruling made without sum­mon­ing the person, and for a judg­ment under Article 382 of the CPC issued without a summons. A person’s absence after being sum­moned is not the same as a de­ci­sion made without a summons.

File a judg­ment or or­di­nary first-in­stance ruling through the court that issued it. File an appeal against an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge ruling or a spec­i­fied de­ten­tion ruling di­rect­ly with the ap­pel­late court.

Steps to take

Obtain a copy of the court act and record the pro­ceed­ing number, pro­nounce­ment date, service date, exact name of the de­ci­sion and appeal in­struc­tions. Check these against the hearing log, receipt, in­sti­tu­tion cer­tifi­cate or elec­tron­ic system notice. Do not choose the later receipt date merely because it is later.

De­ter­mine the route. For a judg­ment from the Ha­lyt­skyi, Ly­chakivskyi or another dis­trict court in Lviv, address the appeal to the Lviv Court of Appeal but submit it through the first-in­stance court. File an appeal against an ap­peal­able ruling by a local in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge di­rect­ly with the Lviv Court of Appeal. The same route gen­er­al­ly applies to dis­trict courts in the region, but always check special ju­ris­dic­tion sep­a­rate­ly.

State spe­cif­ic relief within the ap­pel­late court’s powers. Tie each ground to a case record and legal rule: what was wrong, where it appears and how it af­fect­ed the de­ci­sion. Check all par­tic­i­pants’ details, sig­na­ture, counsel’s au­thor­i­ty, at­tach­ment list and file leg­i­bil­i­ty.

If the period may have expired, do not send only an ap­pli­ca­tion. File the appeal to­geth­er with a request for restora­tion under Article 117 of the CPC and ev­i­dence such as medical records, proof of de­ten­tion, com­mu­ni­ca­tions outages, evac­u­a­tion or another spe­cif­ic ob­sta­cle. Article 615 does not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly extend time merely because martial law exists.

What to check before filing

Check that the CPC allows a sep­a­rate appeal against this ruling. Read the op­er­a­tive part and Ar­ti­cles 307, 309, 392 and 395. Then verify the trigger again: pro­nounce­ment, service on a de­tained person or receipt of a de­ci­sion made without a summons. If ev­i­dence about the start date con­flicts, use the safer earlier date and explain both dates. If the dates or sup­port­ing records con­flict, explain both and check whether the appeal must be filed through the local court or di­rect­ly with the Lviv Court of Appeal.

For per­son­al filing, the reg­istry’s closing time on the final day matters. For mail, keep the receipt, en­clo­sure in­ven­to­ry and track­ing record: de­liv­ery to the post before the period expires must be prov­able. A de­tained person should obtain con­fir­ma­tion that the com­plaint was handed to the in­sti­tu­tion ad­min­is­tra­tion on time. For elec­tron­ic filing, keep every receipt, not just the doc­u­ment draft.

When to consult a lawyer

Seek prompt review if the dead­line is five days, only the op­er­a­tive part was an­nounced, the person is de­tained, the right to appeal sep­a­rate­ly is dis­put­ed or the service date is not record­ed. A lawyer can also help when the dead­line must be re­stored or ob­jec­tive im­pos­si­bil­i­ty under Article 615 of the CPC must be sub­stan­ti­at­ed.

For a Lviv pro­ceed­ing, a con­sul­ta­tion can help verify the spe­cif­ic dis­trict court, route to the Lviv Court of Appeal, appeal re­quire­ments and ev­i­dence of timely filing. It does not promise a result, but helps file the doc­u­ment in the right place and avoid losing time to a formal error.