The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has issued 431 verdicts since it began operating in September 2019, with 34 of them first-instance acquittals; 14 of those acquittals were upheld on appeal, and the appeals court also issued 7 of its own acquittals.
"Over the period we’ve been operating, the HACC has issued 431 verdicts. Of these, 34 first-instance verdicts were acquittals. That is, 34 times the anti-corruption court was able to hand down not the decision the state, as a law enforcement system, expects, but the decision aimed at upholding a person’s rights and interests, and, one could say, the interests of the defense," HACC Appeals Chamber Chairman Ihor Panaid said Friday at a conference in Kyiv titled "7 Years of the HACC: Lessons Learned and Strategic Challenges Ahead."
Not all of these decisions went through the appeals court, he said. "You could say the appeals court, in carrying out its functions… issues its own decisions as well. That is, reviewing these acquittals, the Appeals Chamber upheld 14 of them, but in reviewing the verdicts, it also issued 7 of its own acquittals," Panaid said.
