Termination of pre-trial investigation due to a serious illness of the suspect (accused) in the criminal procedure of Ukraine and some European states

Abstract

The aim of the article is to study the legal regulations, doctrinal approaches to the understanding of mental disorder or another serious disease of the suspect (accused) as a reason for stopping the pre-trial investigation in the criminal procedural law of European countries, and also the development and justification of the proposal, directed for the improvement of the regulation of such reasons in the criminal procedural law of Ukraine. The methodological grounds of the research constitute general scientific and special legal methods, in particular dialectical, method of analysis, method of generalization, structural and functional method, hermeneutical method, dogmatic method, comparative legal method. We analyze one of the reasons for stopping the pre-trial investigation – mental disorder or another serious disease of the suspect (accused). Analyzing the corresponding legal acts of the CPC of Ukraine and European countries, the views of researchers, we provide our views on the questions of the research topic, and give suggestions on the improvement of the criminal procedural law of Ukraine. The signs of mental disorder of the suspect (accused) have been clarified, the criteria of the serious somatic symptom disorder as a reason for stopping the pre-trial investigation have been singled out. A new version of P. 1 Ch. 1 Art. 280 of the CPC of Ukraine has been proposed.