Court to review Snizhana Kruhliakova’s case
The application to review the case in light of newly discovered circumstances will be considered — that is the decision our attorney Oksana Huz walked out of the courtroom with. And we can say without a doubt that this is a turning point in the case, because it is a chance for Snizhana Kruhliakova to have her life sentence reviewed!
A reminder of how events unfolded:
- In August 2021, an application to review the verdict in light of newly discovered circumstances was filed.
- Also in August 2021, a petition was launched in support of Snizhana demanding a review of the life sentence in her case, and a complaint was filed with the European Court of Human Rights.
- In November 2021, the Novozavodskyi District Court of Chernihiv refused to open proceedings and returned the application.
- Disagreeing with that decision, we filed an appeal.
On December 17, the Chernihiv Court of Appeal GRANTED THE APPEAL and ruled to send Snizhana Kruhliakova’s case for a review of the verdict in light of newly discovered circumstances!
The new hearing will take place taking into account the newly discovered circumstances of the case, which were not considered when the life sentence was handed down to the 25-year-old woman.
What are these “newly discovered circumstances”?
These are important pieces of evidence that were not known to the court at the time the verdict was handed down, but that prove her innocence of the crime she was convicted of.It is still too early to celebrate, but there is no decisive victory without interim ones like this!So we are glad, and we believe that Ukraine’s judicial system is ready to acknowledge and correct its mistakes.