Queritius Kyiv team has successfully represented our client in a high-profile pro bono criminal case No. 755/6856/17 before the Ukrainian Supreme Court.

Queritius has been counsel to Vlad Tsilytsky, a victim of police violence during the 2013-2014 mass protests (the so-called Revolution of Dignity), in criminal proceedings brought in 2014 on charges of torture of the client by an officer of the then-existing notorious Berkut police unit. The trial court acquitted the accused officer and the judgment was upheld on appeal. The Supreme Court overturned the judgment of the appellate court and remanded the case for retrial.

The crux of the matter pleaded by the Queritius Kyiv team was a novel question of admissibility of indirect evidence under Ukrainian criminal evidence law which, until now, had remained largely untested.

The Supreme Court’s judgment is the first long-awaited win for justice in this socially significant but protracted case.

The counsel team included Sergiy Gryshko, Victoria Ivasechko, Yaroslav Brych and Bohdan Prybora.