Protection from criminal prosecution begins as soon as you learn that criminal proceedings have been initiate against you. Very often people ignore problems because they are sure that they did nothing. For example, they came to you with a search, and you, being confident in your law-abidingness, open the door to the investigator and do not interfere with the search. Yes, this is correct. After all, if you interfere with the search, you can be brought to administrative and criminal liability. However, you will make a mistake, if you think that at this stage you don`t need the protection of a lawyer from criminal prosecution. A lawyer arriving at the place of the search will be able to prevent damage to your property, stop or record violations on the part of the investigator, prevent theft or prevent drugs, weapons or other evidence from being planted on you.
Types of legal assistance to clients
Depending on what procedural status you are in and what stage of the investigation you turned to a lawyer, you may need the following legal services:
- Preparation for interrogation and participation in interrogation;
- Participation of a lawyer in conducting a search or other procedural action;
- Return of seized property;
- Collection of evidence, proof of an alibi, collection of characterizing materials;
- Protection during detention;
- Change of measure of restraint;
- Protecting the suspect;
- Preparation of statements about a crime or bringing to disciplinary responsibility of an investigator or prosecutor;
- Defense of the accused in the court of first instance;
- Defense on appeal;
- Cassation appeal;
- Grant of parole;
- Amnesty
- And other services depending on the situation in which you find yourself.
Protecting the suspect
It depends on the tactics and strategy of the defense whether the charge will be sent to court, the qualification of the charge, whether a measure of restraint will be chosen. Many clients do not seek the legal protection of an attorney at this stage. In fact, this is a big mistake, as time is wasted and the problems get worse.
Council to distinguish between the status of a suspect and an accused person. You can suspect everyone and you have every chance to prove at this stage that you are not guilty of a crime or there is no corpus delicti in your actions. To achieve this, you need to clearly understand your rights and the procedure for filing petitions, complaints and even evidence.
The experience of the lawyers of the company “Legal Defense” shows that contacting a lawyer at an early stage will help to apply protection mechanisms in such a way that criminal proceedings do not reach the court. Or, on the contrary, foreseeing the risks of resuming criminal proceedings, insist that the end of the criminal prosecution should still be a court decision.
Specific methods of protection are selected in each case individually.
Defense of the accused in the court of first instance.
An important stage of defense in the court of first instance is a preparatory hearing. Only in the preparatory session can certain rights be exercised and complaints can be filed against the evidence collection process, investigation procedures and even court decisions that could not be appealed during the pre-trial investigation.
The next step is litigation. A competent lawyer will prepare and file petitions for the recognition of evidence as inadequate and inadmissible, if necessary, ask for an expert examination, interrogate witnesses, and also carry out a number of other actions related to the defense of the accused in court.
Law office “Legal Defense” has extensive experience in defending in the courts of first instance in case of charges of any complexity and offers high-quality defense in criminal proceedings.
We are always on the client’s side!
Protection of the rights of suspects in the court of second instance
It’s about filing an appeal. Here you can not do without a lawyer, because an incorrectly chosen method of protection will lead to the fact that the court will refuse to satisfy your appeal.
For example, one of the ways of protection will be chosen – the cancellation of the sentence and the appointment of a new trial in the court of first instance. It should be noted that if you ask for exactly this, then the appeal will consider whether there are grounds for just such a decision.
But it may be that at this stage of the consideration the client wants to stop the proceedings and he is satisfied with the suspended sentence. Then the lawyer’s work strategy will be significantly different from the previous one, because one of the key points of satisfaction by the court of appeal will be the sincere repentance of the client.
At the same time, the lawyer must tell the client all the risks of being refused in both cases, the consequences of receiving a suspended sentence and other important points if the court satisfies the request set out in the appeal.
You can see what decisions the court of appeal can make in Article 407 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine.
At the same time, one should not forget that the court of appeal will not examine the evidence unless you ask it to. The court can make a decision without your participation, so be sure to notify the court that you want to take part in the appeal.
Remember only a good lawyer can help you understand all the procedures and get a court decision that suits you.
Above, we told you about how difficult it is to prepare an appeal against a sentence. But know that both the prosecutor and the victim can file an appeal. In this case, you do not need to rely on fate. Only a timely appeal to a lawyer will help you avoid an increase in the term or liability.
Law Office “Legal Defense” will help you at this stage of the process.
Protection of interests in the court of supervisory authority
In our country, it is not customary in the legal environment to call the court of cassation – supervisory. But in fact, this is the correct name, because the court of cassation does not examine the materials of the case, but checks the legality of the decision.
If the cassation complaint is drawn up incorrectly, then the Supreme Court will simply refuse to accept it and you will actually lose without even starting to consider your complaint. It is possible to write it without legal knowledge, but it will not be subject to satisfaction.
It must be remembered that a small percentage of cassation complaints are subject to satisfaction. The Court of Cassation is a court of formalities. Defense in criminal proceedings has a number of difficulties, and each lawyer has mastered a certain technique over the years of practice and has certain tricks in his arsenal regarding his success.
By contacting the Legal Defense Law Office, you will receive highly qualified legal assistance in writing a cassation appeal and defense in the Supreme Court.
Protection from prosecution for tax evasion
Very often, criminal prosecution for tax evasion does not contain elements of a crime, but is the result of the tricks of competitors, offended subordinates, and even partners and other persons who have an interest in your business. It often happens that this is a banal mistake of an accountant or an inept application of “business optimization”.
For a business, the presence of such prosecution means not only the criminal liability of the head, but also the fact that your business may be “paralyzed” for a certain line: blocking of accounts, arrest of goods, arrest of production, dismissal of key employees, acquiring a bad reputation with counterparties and banks, breaks contracts and due to the rapid leakage of funds from the company.
Here you definitely can’t think, but you need to look for a lawyer who specializes in these issues. Lawyers of the Legal Defense Bureau will help you not only to build the right defense, but to avoid negative consequences for your business.
Protection during pre-trial investigation
An important stage of protection. It is very important at this stage to remove all arrests, return the seized equipment or goods, collect evidence of your innocence, and conduct certain examinations.
Preserving the business and its reputation are the main differences of defense in criminal proceedings related to non-payment of taxes. Protection during criminal prosecution in this category of cases has its own characteristics and you yourself cannot understand all the wilds of criminal and criminal procedural legislation.
Protection in court proceedings
Do not forget that in the previous section we talked about the correct way to defend yourself in court. Despite the fact that the main type of punishment in case of tax evasion is a fine, there can be more serious consequences for a business.
Let us consider the case when the manager is released from criminal liability, but special confiscation can be applied. Special confiscation may be applied by the court in the event of a guilty verdict. We suggest that you familiarize yourself in more detail with when it can be applied in Art. 96-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Tax audit
Often the basis for criminal prosecution for non-payment of taxes is a tax audit.
So, the results of the audit may reveal one of the following circumstances that may serve as a reason for initiating criminal proceedings against you:
- Identification of forged documents that you received from the counterparty;
- The counterparty was convicted of money laundering;
- Presence of transactions with a related person;
- As well as the difference between the taxes paid and the opinion of the inspection body.
All this can serve as a basis to accuse you of committing a crime.
If you see that the results of a tax audit do not inspire confidence, contact a lawyer. Lawyers of “Legal Defense” will challenge the results of the tax audit and help to avoid criminal prosecution for the results of the tax audit.
Service cost
The cost of services on protection from criminal prosecution is specified in each individual case.