The worst damage in a criminal case is what a person does to themselves — in the first two or three hours, while they still hope to “explain everything and go home”.

The clock does not start with the record

The moment of detention is the time at which you actually lost the ability to walk away freely: you were stopped, put into a car, taken into an office and not let out. Not the time the investigator later writes into the record.

The difference can be several hours, and it is decisive: the time limits after which being held becomes unlawful run from the moment of actual detention. So memorise or note down the exact time — and give it to your lawyer first.

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What they must tell you immediately

The official who has detained you must immediately, in language you understand, state the grounds for the detention and which offence you are suspected of committing, and must also explain four rights:

• to have defence counsel;
• to receive medical assistance;
• to give explanations and testimony or to say nothing at all about the suspicion;
• to have close relatives or family members told about the detention immediately.

Article 208(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine

Three things worth doing

1. Give your name and explain nothing further. Say it plainly: “I am exercising my right not to give evidence. I will give testimony only in the presence of defence counsel”. Repeat it as many times as it takes.
2. Demand a lawyer — and name a particular one. If you have an arrangement with defence counsel, give their surname and number. If you do not, they are obliged to notify the free legal aid centre immediately, and a lawyer will come at no cost to you.
3. Call the people close to you. Tell them only the essentials: where you are, which authority, which article. After that let them phone a lawyer — do not discuss the circumstances over the phone.

Article 213(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine — notifying the free legal aid centre is an obligation, not a favour

Court is not yet a pre-trial detention centre

Being brought before an investigating judge means only that the court will hear a motion for a preventive measure. Detention in custody is the most severe of the five, and the law obliges the court to choose the mildest of those that are sufficient in the particular case.

Articles 176 and 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine

The record of detention: what to check before you sign

A record must be drawn up, and a copy must be handed to you immediately. Before you sign, check:

It is worth signing the record — refusing achieves nothing. But you have the right to enter comments in your own hand, and it is those that later become evidence of breaches.

Article 208(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine

What martial law changes

The outer time limits remain the same: 60 and 72 hours. What has changed is something else — if it is physically impossible to bring the detained person before an investigating judge, the hearing may be held by video conference. And if even that is impossible within the set time limit, the person must be released immediately.

The Constitutional Court has held unconstitutional the provisions of Article 615 CPC which allowed detention in custody to be extended automatically once the ruling had expired. So any reference to “martial law” as a ground for holding you longer is a reason to phone a lawyer at once.

If someone close to you has been detained

• Find out which authority and which address they were taken to, and the time of the detention.
• Phone a lawyer straight away — do not wait “until morning” and do not go there to “sort it out”.
• Hand nothing over and sign no documents at the request of the officers.
• Write down the surnames of everyone you spoke to, and the times of the conversations.

In detail for families →