On May 28, the HACC granted the defense’s motion and released former MP Mykola Martynenko from criminal liability under Article 209(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, closing the case in this part due to the expiration of the statute of limitations in December 2024.
According to the investigation, between July and December 2014, Martynenko received a bribe of over €311,000 from the management of the Czech company SKODA JS a.s. for promoting its interests in Ukraine.
Martynenko will continue to stand trial under Article 368(4) of the Criminal Code, the statute of limitations for which expires in 2029.
The prosecutor agreed that the defense’s motion should be upheld.
The pre-trial investigation began in 2018. During the disclosure of materials, the detective stated that the defense was deliberately abusing its right under Article 290 of the Criminal Procedure Code to access case materials and was stalling the review process. Nevertheless, the court initially refused to set a deadline for disclosure, and only did so in January 2023, although the materials had been available since November 2022.
The case was scheduled for trial in February 2023 and is currently at the witness examination stage. The defense had earlier filed a motion to close the proceedings due to the expiration of the pre-trial investigation period, but the court denied it.
Martynenko is also charged with embezzling funds from the state-owned enterprises Eastern Mining and Processing Plant and Energoatom. For the first episode, the 15-year statute of limitations will expire in 2027. As we recently highlighted in our material, a significant number of cases are at risk of closure due to expired statutes of limitations, underscoring the need for legislative changes regarding limitation periods in corruption cases.