The number of acquittals may increase to 35% in a year after the introduction of the new Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, an adviser to the Ukrainian president and the head of the main department for the judiciary at the presidential administration, Andriy Portnov, has said.

"We forecast that at first the number of acquittals would rise from the 0.2% we have today to 15%, and in some year or year and a half, when new investigations are carried out completely according to the new Criminal Procedure Code, we will have 30-35% acquittals," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The official said the experience of developed democratic states was incorporated into the new code.

"This is statistical data from other countries in which the criminal procedure legislation is based on the same norms. They have 30-40% acquittals," Portnov said.

The full text of the interview in Russian has been posted on the Web site of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency - www.interfax.com.ua.