After analyzing the Register of Court Decisions, we found that on May 22, 2024, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv released Yurii Marysyk, an accomplice in the bribery case of the director of the Rzhyshchivskyi Military Forestry Enterprise, from prison.
Why was Marysyk convicted?
In April 2021, the HACC Appeals Chamber convicted Oleksandr Levkivskyi, the acting director of the Rzhyshchivskyi Military Forestry State Enterprise, and his accomplice Yurii Marysyk.
They were found guilty of the fact that in February 2016, the acting director of forestry Levkivskyi offered a private person to organize the issuance of all documents to provide the person with 74.5 hectares of state land for lease for 49 years for a USD 15,000 bribe. The director of forestry planned to transfer the money and the promised documents through his acquaintance Yurii Marysyk. He was detained at the place of the transfer, and the criminal scheme was exposed.
The HACC sentenced both to prison terms. Levkivskyi was sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment and 3 years of deprivation of the right to hold certain positions, and Marysyk was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment and 2 years of deprivation of the right to hold certain positions.
However, the HACC Appeals Chamber subsequently changed the sentence, increasing the prison term for both — up to 6 years for Levkivskyi and up to 5 years for Marysyk — and supplementing it with confiscation of all property.
What allowed the corrupt official to be exempted from punishment?
According to Art. 81 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, parole does not apply to persons who have served less than two-thirds of their term and have not proven their correction. Therefore, according to the general rules, Marysyk, who had been a prisoner for 2 years, could not be exempted from the 3 years he had left to serve.
But this is possible now after a new article 81-1 was added to the Criminal Code of Ukraine in May this year. It entitles a certain category of convicts to parole in exchange for military service under a contract. Yurii Marysyk used this right almost immediately after the entry into force of amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
There might be more such cases, but the obstacle in finding out about the facts is the court decisions of local courts, which do not allow for identifying the institution that convicted the person and the crimes that resulted in the conviction.
So, although according to the latest data from the Ministry of Justice, more than 4,000 convicts have requested to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this is the first case of parole with subsequent military service for a person convicted by the HACC.