International legal standards of organization and functioning of the prosecutor's office

Abstract

The article considers the basic international legal standards of organization and functioning of the prosecutor’s office. It was determined that the prosecutor’s office, outside of criminal proceedings, began to play the role of ancillary appointments, while public authorities and local governments were given the right to go to court independently. It is noted that Ukraine is a party to the Statute and a member of the Council of Europe, and therefore has undertaken to recognize the principles of the rule of law and the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms (Article 3 of the Statute), is able and willing to fulfill such obligations 4 of the Statute). It is pointed out that the modernization of the constitutional and legal status of the prosecutor’s office is taking place in connection with the existence of a number of obligations of the Ukrainian state to the Council of Europe. Attention is drawn to the key acts of the international level, which relate to the organization and functioning of the prosecutor’s office, identified their main provisions in the context of the analysis. The expediency of optimal division of competence between the prosecutor (as an administrative agent of the executive or legislative power) and the judiciary is supported. It is pointed out that Europe is developing more and more, citizens are mobile, as a result of which different legal systems are inevitably affected, and therefore it is strategically important to achieve harmonization of criminal justice systems of Council of Europe members. Such harmonization is useful given the feasibility of maintaining the effectiveness of criminal justice systems in the light of the challenges of international organized crime. It is established that the reform of the constitutional and legal status of the prosecutor’s office in Ukraine in accordance with the commitments made to the Council of Europe should begin with a gradual solution of a set of issues of compliance of the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office with international standards. It is emphasized that in the Ukrainian state the prosecutor’s office occupies an important place in the system of public authorities, as its activities absorb two ambivalent components that implicitly complement each other - ensuring law and order.