Editor's Note: The names of the teenagers in the case are not mentioned, as Ukrainian law does not allow them to be made public.
After over a year of court hearings, attorneys defending three Ukrainian teenagers convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Zakarpattia Oblast have asked the court to close the case against them.
The three teenage boys committed the crime back in 2021, filmed it on camera, and posted the video online, for which the court in western Ukraine gave them only two years of probation and a fine last March.
The court's decision caused a nationwide scandal, prompting several lawyers to take the girl's case pro bono and fight for a stricter verdict.
As the trial neared its final stage, the defense filed a motion to close the criminal proceedings on Oct. 4, the same day the court debates were scheduled "essentially disrupting the conclusion of the process," said Illia Vorobyov, an attorney from Miller legal company and one of those representing the victim.
According to Vorobiov, the defense is "trying to take advantage" of the fact the girl did not attend all court sessions, claiming it is trying to present this as her "refusal to support the prosecution."
"I am confident that this is a deliberate attempt by the defense to delay the proceedings. But it will not help the accused avoid punishment," Vorobiov told the Kyiv Independent.
Vorobiov says the issue of the girl not being present at every court session was addressed at the beginning of the new trial in 2023, when both her representatives and the prosecutors asked the court to allow her not to attend all the court hearings, limiting her participation to just her testimony.
"This is necessary to prevent the re-traumatization of the child, as during the trial, we question witnesses, those accused, and examine all evidence in great detail," Vorobiov says.
"These processes are emotionally challenging even for me, despite my extensive experience in criminal justice," he adds.
"It seems that everyone understands this except the defense. They believe this girl should relive all these events in detail again. This is why we consider today's motion by the defense to be an outright act of cynicism."
According to the court's statement, the girl was hit in the stomach and bent over with her head squeezed between one of the boys' legs. Then they took off her clothes and underwear and "committed acts of a sexual nature, not related to penetrating the body," causing her physical pain, the document reads.
The official reason for the soft sentence back in 2023 was that the crime was rendered as sexual violence, not rape.
According to the Ukrainian Criminal Code, rape committed by a group of people or rape of a minor is punishable by 7-12 years of imprisonment, while sexual violence against a minor or committed by a group is 5-7 years behind bars.
The only difference between them is that rape implies the act of penetration into the victim's body, which the court claimed did not take place.
"The idea that rape is horrendous and sexual violence is not is wrong," attorney Anna Kalynchuk told the Kyiv Independent in April 2023. "Pain, humiliation, and severe stress are the same for rape and sexual violence," she said.
Vorobiov says they hope the court debates will occur by the end of October, "after which it will be up to the judge to make a decision."
"We are against a suspended sentence for the accused. Throughout the trial, I have not sensed any genuine remorse or admission of guilt for what they did. Therefore, we will be requesting imprisonment for the accused," he added.
Daria Shulzhenko
