Peculiarities of the procedural status of the subject authorized to carry out pre-trial investigation of criminal offenses

Abstract

In the article, based on the study of the norms of domestic legislation, the analysis of the practice of investigation of criminal offenses, as well as scientific works on the relevant subject, the legal basis of the activity of investigation units, their functions, rights, duties and powers is defined. Attention is focused on the most problematic aspects of the procedural status of subjects authorized to investigate criminal misdemeanors. It is emphasized that the provisions on granting the authorized person of other subdivisions the authority to conduct inquiries are laid out without taking into account the principle of legal certainty (Article 8 of the Constitution of Ukraine). It is emphasized that the provisions of Art. 19 and 92 of the Constitution of Ukraine provides for the definition of the organization and activity of pre-trial investigation bodies exclusively by the laws of Ukraine, at the same time, the key regulator of the activity of investigation units in the system of the National Police of Ukraine is a subordinate legal act, and the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” does not separately define the issue of the organization and activity of units inquiry of the NP of Ukraine. Attention was drawn to the inconsistency of the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which fix the powers of inquirers in terms of the possibility of conducting investigative (search) actions, in particular, clause 3, part 2 of Article 401 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine records the powers of the investigator to conduct or entrust their conduct to other subjects, while certain articles of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine do not directly provide for the right of the investigator to apply for the conduct of, for example, a search, because in Part 3 of Art. 234 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the inquirer is not mentioned as a subject who can apply to the investigating judge with a corresponding request (as an investigator or prosecutor). It was established that in practice this leads to an ambiguous position of investigative judges in granting such requests. It was concluded that the legal regulation of the activities of entities authorized to carry out inquiries currently requires improvement, primarily by making changes to the legislative acts that determine the procedural status of the specified persons.