Pre-trial Investigation Research Articles

Some proposals for improving the regulatory enforcement of the provisions of p. 3-1, part 1, art. 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine

The issues considered in the article correspond to such international and European standards of criminal justice as ensuring the right to an effective pre-trial investigation and the right to a fair trial, in terms of the legal certainty of the formulation of the circumstances provided in Clause 3-1 Part 1 of Art. 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine (one of the grounds for closing criminal proceedings by the court). A number of practical aspects of the application of Clause 3-1 Part 1 of Art. 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine of the criminal procedural college of Ukraine in the light of the positions set forth in the decision of the Joint Chamber of the Cassation Criminal Court of the Supreme Court of February 13, 2023 (in particular, that the concept of «crime against the life and health of a person» covers not only the crimes provided for in section II of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, but may also include other types of crimes in which the object of encroachment is public relations regarding the safety of life and health of a person).The article draws attention to certain disadvantages of the normative consolidation of the provisions of Clause 3-1, Part 1, Art. 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine. In particular, it is substantiated that the provisions of Clause 3-1 Part 1 of Art. 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine are not sufficiently coordinated with the norms of criminal law, which establish the statute of limitations for bringing criminal liability (Articles 49, 106 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), in the part of formulation of the cases, in the presence of which the court cannot close criminal proceedings. Suggestions for improving criminal procedural legislation have been formulated. In particular, Clause 3-1 Part 1 of Art. 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code is proposed to be presented in the following version:«the person who committed the criminal offense has not been identified, in the case of the expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecution, except the cases when according to the law of Ukraine on criminal liability, the statute of limitations is not applied or the crime may be punished by life imprisonment».In addition, attention was also drawn to a legal and technical disadvantage: the basis provided in Clause 3-1, Part 1, Art. 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code, repeated twice (in Paragraphs 5 and 7 of Part 1 of Article 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code, in Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Part 2 of Article 284 of the Criminal Procedural Code). Such duplication has no meaningful load and needs to be excluded.

Chapter 36-1 of the CPC of Ukraine as a ground for closing criminal proceedings

The emergence of a new ground for closing criminal proceedings in the current Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine – in connection with the decriminalization of an act committed by a person – has caused ambiguous assessments by scholars. The application of the new procedure in judicial practice necessitates a thorough scientific study of the problem in order to prevent violations of the law. The purpose of the study was to determine the practical feasibility of the adopted amendments for pre-trial investigation and court proceedings. To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: dialectical, systemic and structural, comparative legal, formal and logical, and modelling. The study describes the actions of participants in criminal proceedings at the stage of pre-trial investigation and in court during consideration of the said procedure. The author compares the new procedure with other existing special investigative procedures and emphasizes their differences. The author calls into question whether the legislator has singled out this procedure as a type of special procedure. The author comes to the conclusion that the subject under study is an exclusively improved basis for closing criminal proceedings or further continuation of their consideration, depending on the right of the defence to close or continue the proceedings in court. The author analyses the court practice of application of this criminal procedural institute. Attention is focused on the need for investigators, prosecutors, and judges to take into account the requirements of the new grounds for closing criminal proceedings and to prevent violations of the law, since during its consideration the suspect and the accused are granted an additional alternative right to agree or disagree with the closure of proceedings, which is a guarantee of human rights and freedoms. The author's conclusion that it is inappropriate for the legislator to classify the procedure for closing proceedings as a separate type of special procedure is justified by haste and lack of appropriate scientific research. The study provides the basis for improving the methodology of procedural actions of the prosecution during the closure of criminal proceedings and may be used by the legislator for further regulation of the criminal proceedings' procedure

Problems of using the evidence collected during the investigation in criminal proceedings regarding the crime

The article raises issues relevant to judicial practice related to the interpretation and application by investigative judges of Art. 298-1 of the Criminal Procedure Code «Procedural sources of evidence in criminal proceedings on criminal misdemeanours». The introduction of the institution of criminal misdemeanour into the national legal system led to significant changes in the normative regulation of the procedural order of inquiry, however, the short-term practice of implementing the norms of criminal procedural legislation regarding the investigation of misdemeanours revealed problems of a law enforcement nature, which are partly caused by the lack of proper legal regulation, legal uncertainty of individual norms, as well as the unity of judicial practice. In particular, Art. 298-1 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides for new, compared to the ordinary procedural order, sources of evidence (explanations of persons, results of a medical examination, a specialist's opinion, indications of technical devices and technical means that have the functions of photo and film shooting, video recording, or means of photo and film shooting, video recording). In addition, the CPC established that the procedural sources of evidence collected during the inquiry cannot be used in criminal proceedings regarding the crime, except on the basis of the decision of the investigating judge, which is issued at the request of a prosecutor. The lack of a legal definition in the given provision of the article led to the lack of uniformity in the practice of considering prosecutors’ requests regarding the possibility of using sources of evidence collected during the inquiry. Based on the conducted generalisation of the practice of examining motions of investigative judges, the authors of the article came to the conclusion of the need to interpret the considered article in its unity, not allowing two different approaches regarding the possibility of creating a separate procedural regime in relation to traditional evidence (Article 84) and those inherent only to misdemeanour proceedings (Article 298-1 of the CPC). In addition, in the article, the authors draw attention to the violation of the norms of the current legislation regarding the improper subject of petitioning the investigating judge, provide recommendations regarding the subject of judicial control in accordance with Art. 298-1 of the СPC, draw attention to problematic points related to the implementation of the provisions of Art. 298-1 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the case of combining materials of criminal proceedings regarding a crime and a misdemeanour, propose the content of the prosecutor's request to the investigating judge, and consider other issues relevant to judicial practice. Key words: investigative judge, judicial control, judicial review proceedings, due legal procedure, criminal misdemeanour, crime, evidence, procedural sources of evidence, inquiry, pre-trial investigation, prosecutor’s request.

Differentiation of the criminal procedural form in relation to accomplices of organized forms of complicity in the form of allocation of criminal proceedings in relation to one or more of them.

The article highlights the issue of segregation of criminal proceedings in respect of one or more accomplices to differentiate the criminal procedural form of criminal proceedings in respect of accomplices in organized forms of complicity. In the case of differentiation of the criminal procedural form for a participant in an organized form of complicity by separating criminal proceedings, courts mostly do not have problems in establishing the nature and degree of participation of the member of the organized group in respect of whom the trial is being conducted in the separated criminal proceedings. At the same time, the verdicts do not have any problems with establishing the signs of an organized form of complicity (organized group, criminal organization), of which the perpetrator committed the relevant criminal offense as a member. When considering the materials of the segregated criminal proceedings against one or more accomplices of organized forms of complicity, courts should not, in their verdict, be excluded from deciding the fate of evidence in another criminal proceeding (i.e., the original criminal proceeding from which the materials of the proceedings against the accomplice were segregated), as this may adversely affect their properties. It is recommended that courts in this case indicate in the verdict that the fate of material evidence in the separated criminal proceedings against an accomplice in an organized form of complicity will be decided after consideration of the original criminal proceedings from which the materials were separated during the pre-trial investigation. When distributing procedural costs among participants in organized forms of complicity, courts mostly use various criteria for differentiating the criminal procedural form of such a decision, such as the criteria of personalization, specification, proportionality, and consideration of the type of accomplice. However, there are cases when only the proportionality criterion is used for this purpose. At the same time, the recovery of procedural costs from participants in unorganized forms of complicity (for example, the recovery of procedural costs for conducting an examination of each member of a group of persons by prior conspiracy) is carried out using only one criterion – proportionality. When passing a verdict on an accomplice whose criminal proceedings have been separated into separate proceedings, the court may impose on him/her the obligation to compensate for the damage caused jointly with the previously convicted person who was an accomplice in the jointly committed criminal offense. Key words: differentiation, criminal liability, criminal proceedings, complicity, accomplice, organized form of complicity, criminal procedural form, sentence, court, allocation of criminal proceedings, procedural costs, determining the fate of material evidence, compensation for damage caused by a criminal offense.

Whether the decision of the investigating judge on the cancellation of the attachment of property or on the refusal of such cancellation is subject to appeal

Once again, the Supreme Court and scientists were asked the question of which of the decisions of the investigating judge are subject to an appeal, and which are not subject to such an appeal in the course of the pre-trial investigation. Today, the immediate object of our research, as well as that of the joint chamber of the Criminal Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court, is the decision of the investigating judge to cancel the seizure of property or to refuse it. The positions of the chambers of the Supreme Court are not the same, which is illustrated by the decision of the joint chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dated February 19, 2019. in case No. 569/17036/18 (proceedings No. 51-598kmo19) and the panel of judges of the First Judicial Chamber of the CCS of the Supreme Court dated March 14, 2023. in case No. 760/5570/22 (proceedings No. 51-3149km22), etc. The research aims to find out whether in this particular case it is an implicit interpretation of the provisions of Art. Art. 174, 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which gives grounds for the statement that the decision of the investigating judge to cancel the seizure of property is subject to appeal or that the list of parts 1 and 2 of Article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine is exhaustive and is not subject to extended interpretation. The applied formal-logical method, deductive reasoning and discursive thinking resulted in a scientific conclusion that, during the pre-trial investigation, the decision of the investigating judge to cancel the seizure of property is not subject to appeal, as it is clearly provided for by criminal procedural norms and is not included by the legislator in the exhaustive list parts 1 and 2 of article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The article substantiates that in such a procedural situation, during the preparatory proceedings in court, the participants have the right to use the procedural opportunities provided for in Part 3 of Article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. With the considered legislative state of affairs, aware of the complexity of those procedural challenges that take place in the pre-trial investigation and follow from the need to ensure and respect the rights of its participants, the legislator is once again called upon to hear the voice of those colleagues-proceduralists who, for ten years, stating a wrong legislative approach in constructing Article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and other similar norms, call to change it or at least expand the list, which is regulated by parts 1 and 2 of Article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

Forensic support for the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) in a pre-trial investigation

The activity of the investigator at the initial stage of the pretrial investigation is a single, interdependent system of procedural actions aimed at identifying, recording, extracting and researching traces of a criminal offense, determining the further direction of the next stage of the investigation. The investigation of criminal offenses requires modern, latest, practical means based on comprehensive scientific and praxeological studies with the use of digital technologies when conducting investigative (search) actions.
 The practical use of unmanned aerial vehicles has grown dramatically over the past two decades, which has made them quite an effective tool in various spheres of social activity and has led to a significant amount of scientific developments. Law enforcement activities are no exception. Such technologies have become an everyday and integral part of our society, which is associated with rapid technological development, computerization, mobility, safety, ease, reliability, affordability and economic benefit. Despite these attractive advantages, UAVs are characterized by operational limitations due to several critical issues in terms of flight autonomy, trajectory planning, battery life, flight time, and payload capacity.
 Attention is drawn in detail to the fact that unmanned aerial vehicles are a promising tool for investigating the place of the commission of a criminal offense. In today’s conditions, its use in forensics, practical activities of law enforcement agencies on a permanent basis is very relevant. It is noted that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in law enforcement agencies and in forensics, in particular, can bring it to a new level of development. Such an aircraft will serve as a chain of interaction between the investigator and the expert forensic center and the scene of the crime.
 Thus, the main goal of this study is to provide practical recommendations for forensic support for the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) in pretrial investigation. The stated provisions and practical recommendations in the article are relevant in the context of the use of modern technologies by practical workers.

Ensuring the rights of a victim the course of preventive measures application in criminal proceedings

The article analyzes problems of ensuring the rights of a victim when choosing preventive measures in criminal proceedings. The position has been argued, according to which the victim, his representative and a legal representative have the right to participate in hearing of a motion for the application of preventive measures by an investigating judge or a judge and to appeal the decisions made by the court. It has been established that when adopting the judgement on preventive measures, the rights and legitimate interests of the victim are affected, including those related to the need to protect his personal safety from threats by the suspect or to ensure compensation for material damage caused by the crime, in that case he, his representative and the legal representative have the right to bring to pre-trial investigation bodies, a prosecutor and an investigating judge notice, their position regarding the selection, extension, change, cancellation of this or that preventive measure against the suspect, as well as to appeal the decision. Herewith, the possibility of an appeal cannot depend on whether the victim directly participated in the court hearing. Likewise, the victim and his representative have the right to become familiar with those materials on the basis of which the decision is made. When an investigating judge considers a motion for the application of preventive measures, the victim, his representative, and the legal representative must have the right to file a motion, including the one on the detention of the suspect, on cancellation or replacement of this preventive measure with another, to participate directly in the court consideration of a motion submitted by them or other participants in the petition process, to appear before the court and present their position and arguments, to appeal the decision of the investigating judge to the court of appeal. Proposals are made regarding the expediency of eliminating legislative conflicts by making appropriate normative corrections, namely to supplement Part 1 of Art. 193, Parts 1 and 2 of Art. 331 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Part 3 of Art. 315 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, provisions that will provide the right to a victim, his legal representative and a representative to apply for the choosing, change, cancellation, extension of the preventive measure against a suspect, an accused, as well as to appeal the relevant decision of an investigating judge, a court in the appeal procedure.

Providing of efficiency of realization of rights and defence of legal interests of suffering and civil plaintiffs during pre-trial investigation of falsification of medicinal facilities and improper implementation of professional duties by medical workers

In the article the questions of providing of efficiency of realization of rights and defence of legal interests of suffering and civil plaintiffs are examined during pre-trial investigation of criminal offences in relation to falsification of medicinal facilities and improper implementation of professional duties by medical workers, in particular, due to more wide bringing in of experts for realization of judicial-pharmaceutical, judicial-pharmacological, medico-legal, commodity judicial-expert examinations and others like that during pre-trial criminal realization. With the aim of implementation of process of adaptation of criminal judicial legislation of Ukraine Ukraine to the standards of European Union and practice of the European court on human rights expediency of exception of department belonging of expert services is grounded by creation of only National expert service of Ukraine that will eliminate the risks of prejudice of experts of department establishments. From data of Worldwide organization of health protection, the annual market of the falsifyed medical preparations makes 75 milliards of dollars of the USA, every tenth packing of medications is off-grade or counterfeited in countries with the low and middle level of profits to that it is fixed and Ukraine. Some experts name a number in 30. It is noted on the necessity of implementation of Convention MEDICRIME in relation to providing of realization of rights suffering by a grant and promulgation of information about harmful medicinal preparations, including, publication on the official web-site of Department, that carries out control after quality of medications, all present data about the educed imitations, and also opening of information that gets other states to the corresponding department about the names of products of pirate goods of the medical setting. Realization and to drawing on the results of judicial-pharmaceutical, pharmacological, medico-legal, commodity judicial-expert examinations promotes efficiency of providing of realization of rights and defence of legal interests of suffering and civil plaintiffs during pre-trial investigation of falsification of medicinal facilities and improper implementation of professional duties medical by workers.

Peculiarities of conducting certain investigative (search) actions during the investigation of criminal offences related to public funding of the healthcare sector in a pandemic situation

The article examines the peculiarities of conducting certain investigative (search) actions during the investigation of criminal offences related to public funding of the healthcare sector in a pandemic situation. The author highlights the most important factors that influence the conduct of a search, investigative examination, interrogation of witnesses and suspects. The author identifies both specific factors inherent only in this legal status and ordinary factors inherent in pre-trial investigation without a state of emergency.Based on the achievements of forensic scientists and the results of a survey of practitioners, an attempt is made to determine the list of documents in healthcare budget crimes proceedings in a pandemic situation that are subject to seizure during a search, as well as the specifics of their examination. The author focuses on tactical situations and combinations during the interrogation of a suspect. It is noted that there exist conflicts in the legislation that allow the suspect and the witnesses to recant their testimony without legal grounds. The article deals with the issue of maintaining a sanitary regime during the procedural actions and its impact on the preservation of trace information on objects, documents, medical equipment, etc.International recommendations on the specifics of certain procedural actions during the quarantine regime were taken into account. All the achievements are confirmed by the results of statistical data and interviews with practitioners, as well as by the analysis of criminal proceedings in the mentioned category of offences.

Representation of the victim of a road traffic accident at the subsequent stage of the pre-trial investigation

Due to the lack of professional staff and the high workload of investigators, investigations into crimes against road safety and transport operation are often conducted ineffectively. As a result, the rights of victims of car accidents stay unprotected. This makes the issue of providing them with legal aid especially important. The purpose of this study was to develop the principles of victim representation at the subsequent stage of pre-trial investigation of crimes against road safety. The methods used in this study include general scientific methods (inductive, deductive, analysis, synthesis, analogy, modelling) and special methods (systemic and structural analysis, logical-legal, comparative legal, sociological). The activities of a road traffic accident victim’s representative during the subsequent stage of pre-trial investigation are considered with a division into separate components (procedural, control and advisory, and search) which are interrelated and interdependent. The features of these components in their interconnection were systematically outlined. The procedural and control-advisory components were studied inseparably from each other at the general level and at the level of concrete investigative (detective) actions. The search component was studied separately with the definition of its specific components, methods and means of their implementation. The study defined the principles of organisation and some tactical methods of representation of a road traffic accident victim at the subsequent stage of pre-trial investigation of crimes against road traffic safety. The author proposes a methodology for initiating the necessary investigative actions by the victim’s representative in different types of interaction (constructive, official business, conflict) that develop at a later stage between them and representatives of the prosecution. Based on the analysis of Ukrainian legislation and its application practice, the study identified the range of problems arising in the practical activities of a representative of a road traffic accident victim at the subsequent stage of pre-trial investigation and suggested ways to resolve them. The use of the provisions of this study will contribute to the improvement of the activities of trial lawyers, increase the effectiveness of legal aid to victims of road accidents, and to further research in this area

Особливості проведення огляду місця події в процесі досудового розслідування окремих кримінальних правопорушень проти життя особи

The article examines the problematic issues of the criminal process and criminology regarding the organization and inspection of the scene during the investigation of certain types of criminal offenses against a person's life, in particular, serial murders. The legal literature supports the scientific position that the inspection of the scene of the incident is an urgent investigative (search) action that can be carried out until the moment of entering information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations of Criminal Proceedings for the purpose of quick and timely identification and procedural fixation of information regarding the circumstances of the commission of a criminal offense. which must be carried out in a qualified, timely manner and within the limits of the criminal procedural form in order to prevent the irreversible loss (destruction) of traces of a criminal offense. Taking into account the peculiarities of the commission of certain types of criminal offenses, the peculiarities of conducting an inspection of the scene of the incident in the process of pre-trial investigation of certain types of murders as criminal offenses against the life of a person are considered

Особливості дистанційного кримінального провадження в умовах воєнного стану

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of remote criminal proceedings caused by the introduction of martial law on the territory of Ukraine. The importance and relevance of the issue of the use of the video conference mode in the criminal process during the war are outlined. The article analyzes the legislative innovations that were established in connection with the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, in particular, the possibility of conducting remote court proceedings at the initiative of a judge or at the request of the participants in the proceedings, its implementation using the technical means of judges, lawyers, witnesses and other subjects of the process. The relevance of establishing the possibility in connection with the objective circumstances of joining the participant in the video conference mode using other means, rather than the technical means specified by the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, is substantiated. Disadvantages that are characteristic of remote criminal proceedings and give rise to certain risks of violation of the procedural form are highlighted, in particular, the lack of possibility of reliable identification of the person acting as a participant in the legal process, lack of opportunity for the accused to communicate confidentially with his lawyer, lack of clear information about the participant's awareness of his rights and obligations ties, as well as the ability to ensure the absence of outside influence, pressure on participants, impartiality and confidentiality of the judicial process. The expediency of the further use of the Custody Records system and the EasyCon communication platform in the activities of pre-trial investigation bodies, which, among other advantages, ensure a reduction of the risk of illegal influences on the participants of criminal proceedings during the conduct of procedural actions in a remote mode, is substantiated. The expediency of integrating elements of the Unified Register of Advocates of Ukraine into the "Electronic Court" subsystem, as well as the development of a mobile "eCourt" relationship, was analyzed.

Застосування інформаційно-телекомунікаційних технологій у кримінальному провадженні в Україні.

Some aspects of the use of information and communication and digital technologies /»video conference mode»/, software products during proceedings, relevant technical and procedural mechanisms of application, storage (archiving) of evidentiary information, and their regulation in domestic and other countries' legislation were studied. The use of the latest technologies during judicial proceedings becomes relevant in the case of the impossibility of a person's «physical presence» to participate in certain procedural (investigative) actions, court proceedings: in the event of an artificial or natural situation declared (introduced) in the state, a state of martial law, a state of emergency, implementation measures to ensure national security and defense, repel armed aggression of the Russian Federation. In the development of innovative technologies, individual problems that arise before the participants of criminal proceedings are subject to a fairly quick and, most importantly, operational solution with the help of modern information and communication technologies and products. If at the stages of the pre-trial investigation or trial of the case, the direct participation of a person is impossible due to objective reasons; the competent persons have given the legal permission to decide on the conduct of individual investigative or procedural actions in video conference mode. The most rational, in this context, are software products related to the improvement of telecommunication networks, in particular, the use of online services and platforms. It is only possible to single out the rapid development of mobile information technologies, particularly the mobile Internet. This field of communication all over the world, and in Ukraine as well, is mastering new standards that allow for faster and better exchange of information.

Dohovirni protsedury u dosudovomu kryminalnomu provadzhenni: aziiskyi dosvid

The criminal procedural legislation regarding the simplification of criminal proceedings and the use of «contractual» procedures in the stage of pre-trial investigation in a number of Asian states (Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia) has been analysed. It is emphasized that the rather conservative criminal procedural legislation of many Asian states during the last decade underwent reforms aimed at optimizing, simplifying and speeding up criminal proceedings, including through the use of «contractual» procedures. It has been established that the Asian experience of applying simplified procedures during pre-trial investigation, in particular, «contractual» procedures in criminal proceedings, attests to the granting of very broad discretionary powers to prosecutors. It is concluded that mostly «contractual» proceedings in Asian states in one form or another involve the procedure of concluding a plea agreement, which must ultimately be reviewed by the court, which, depending on the state, has more or less discretion when approving it and imposing a punishment. Certain Asian states have adopted the classic approach to concluding plea agreements that originated in the United States (plea bargaining), while others have introduced more original models. In particular, the Japanese model of «contractual» proceedings provides for the cooperation of the accused not with respect to the criminal offense he or she committed, but only with respect to the commission of criminal offenses by other persons. Instead, in Singapore, several models of negotiations between parties in criminal proceedings are used — without the participation of a judge, with the judge’s mediation, as well as the conclusion of a «Deferred Prosecution Agreement» available to legal entities. The opinion was expressed that Singapore’s experience in implementing a system of negotiations between the prosecution and defence parties through the mediation of a judge («Criminal Case Resolution») is interesting from the point of view of the possibility of implementation in Ukraine, which provides for the elimination of contradictions with the aim of a quick and conflict-free resolution of the case and, to some extent, has signs of a mediation..

Circumstances to be ascertained during the pre-trial investigation of high-profile criminal offenses against the will, honor and dignity of a person

Circumstances to be ascertained during the pre-trial investigation of high-profile criminal offenses against the will, honor and dignity of a person

Features of the application of temporary access to things and documents in the process of criminal procedural evidence

In accordance with Part 2 of Art. 93 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Procedure Code), the prosecution, as a subject of evidence in a judicial investigation, obtains evidence through conducting investigative (detective) actions and covert investigative (detective) actions, requesting and receiving things, documents, information, experts' conclusions, audit conclusions and inspection reports from public authorities, local self-government bodies, enterprises, institutions and organizations, officials and individuals, as well as carrying out other procedural actions provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Other procedural actions that can be ways of obtaining evidentiary information include: filing motions, complaints, statements, objections, as well as separate measures to ensure criminal proceedings, in particular, temporary access to things and documents, temporary seizure of property, seizure of property. In this article, I would like to consider in more detail the specific features of such a procedural action as temporary access to things and documents, provided for in Chapter 15 of the Criminal Procedure Code. A system analysis of the provisions of the given chapter, other norms of the current the Criminal Procedure Code, as well as the application thereof, suggest a conclusion that there is an imperfection in the legislative regulation on the issue of applying temporary access to things and documents in the process of criminal procedural evidence.
 The publication comments on a number of norms of the Criminal Procedure Code which establish the specifics of the application of the given measure of ensuring criminal proceedings in the process of criminal procedural evidence during the pre-trial investigation, and proposes approaches to eliminating their shortcomings, based on the analysis of the specifics of the normative regulation of temporary access to things and documents. This issue is evaluated differently by both practitioners and scientists and is actively used during criminal proceedings, which is confirmed by court statistics. Theoretical and practical aspects of the given issue are considered. The article claims that despite the widespread use of the given institute, there is a significant amount of misunderstandings and contradictions between theory and practice. The paper contains critical remarks regarding the procedure of normative regulation and the use of temporary access to things and documents in the process of criminal procedural evidence. The materials of the article are both of theoretical and practical value. They can be used for further scientific research on the specifics of the application of measures to ensure criminal proceedings in the process of criminal procedural evidence, as well as for the proper understanding and implementation of law-enforcement criminal procedural activities.

Some problematic issues of ensuring the conclusion of a plea agreement

In the article, the author examines some problematic issues of tactical and forensic support of one of the compromise procedures provided for in the current Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine - the plea agreement.
 The most typical abuses of the procedural right by the prosecution during the conclusion of the specified agreement are considered, when using the presence of certain shortcomings in the regulation of the procedure for concluding a plea agreement (initiations, negotiations, the performance of certain actions, or the provision of certain guarantees by the parties to the agreement, etc.), the prosecutor and the investigator from a certain motivations and interests that do not always correspond to the content of the public interest, use situations that are characterized by an increased risk for the abuse of procedural law, as a result of which the rights, freedoms and interests of the parties or other persons may be grossly violated or limited.
 We are considering the situation of concluding such an agreement only in order not to examine all the evidence in court, because the pre-trial investigation made mistakes that cannot be corrected. The "artificial" creation of prejudice occurs when the prosecutor, contrary to the general rules of prejudice, uses a guilty verdict that approved a plea agreement to limit the rights of a person who is not a party to the criminal proceedings. As well as the prosecution's use of the uncertainty of the victim's status and powers in situations provided for in Part 4 of Article 469 of the Criminal Procedure Code, when the victim consents to the conclusion of a plea agreement in proceedings for the commission of particularly serious crimes, etc.
 It is substantiated that in addition to improving the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code and eliminating certain deficiencies in the regulation of the procedure for concluding a plea agreement, in forensic methods and recommendations for forensic support of pre-trial investigation and maintaining a public prosecution, it is necessary to provide for typical situations of abuse of procedural law by the prosecution, which can be used in the implementation evidence in court during the initiation and conclusion of a plea agreement.

Initiation of pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings regarding interference in the activities of a defense attorney or a person's representative

The article examines the importance of observing the beginning of the pre-trial investigation established by the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine in general and in criminal proceedings regarding interference in the activities of a defense attorney or a person's representative, in particular. Attention is drawn to the fact that the current Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine does not contain a rule regarding the procedural form of starting a pre-trial investigation with the participation of persons who enjoy additional guarantees of independence. Attention is drawn to the fact that, despite the established requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding the verification of applications and notifications of individuals, in practice there have been cases of their verification taking too long.
 The normative and legal regulation of the initiation of pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings regarding interference in the activities of a defense attorney or a person's representative is analyzed in detail. Attention is focused on the fact that the legal guarantees of the protection of the lawyer's professional activity are negated by the lack of practice of thorough investigation of all facts of encroachment and real punishment of guilty persons in crimes committed against lawyers in connection with their professional activity.
 It is noted that cases have become quite frequent when statements by defenders and representatives of a person about the violation of their rights, which have signs of a criminal offense, are considered not within 24 hours, but within ten days, and sometimes even within thirty days in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Appeals citizens", despite the direct prohibition of consideration of such applications.
 The reasons for the refusal to enter information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations (hereinafter referred to as the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations) have been identified. During the investigation of interference in the activities of the defender or representative of a person, the following grounds are used: 1) the need to provide additional evidence; 2) lack of legal grounds for entering information into the EDPR.
 It is believed that the current model of the criminal procedural norm, which concerns the entry of information into the ERDR, is limited enough to make a quick and well-founded decision on the initiation of a pre-trial investigation.

Violation of the rights of the suspect (accused) in criminal proceedings (analysis of ECtHR practice)

Ensuring the protection of all the rights of a suspect (accused) in criminal proceedings, who has inherent rights, freedoms and interests guaranteed by law, is one of the main tasks of judicial and law enforcement agencies within the framework of the implementation of the principle of human-centeredness. The purpose of the study was to establish the effectiveness of law enforcement of the norms that ensure the rights of suspects (accused) in Ukraine based on the analysis of relevant decisions of the ECtHR, and to provide suggestions for its improvement. In practice, during the pre-trial investigation and trial, there are frequent violations of the rights of the specified persons, which are enshrined in national and international legislation, which indicates insufficient effectiveness of law enforcement. It has been established that the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine is co-used with the norms of international normative legal acts, in particular the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in terms of ensuring the rights of the violated (accused) in criminal proceedings. The proposal as a result of the conducted research is the training of employees of state bodies in the field of implementation of the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code, taking into account people-centeredness and the obligation to take into account the practice of the ECHR in their activities in order to prevent new similar (or similar) violations of the rights of the suspect (accused) in criminal proceedings. This study does not exhaust all the problems associated with the violation of the rights of suspects (accused) in criminal proceedings, but it opens up prospects for further research in this area.

Rape: criminal proceedings of private or public prosecution?

The article is devoted to the problematic issues of implementing the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) into the criminal and criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine. It is noted that the norms of criminal and criminal procedural law regulate social relations related to the resolution of the most dangerous social conflicts. Legal norms are aimed at protecting the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of the participants in these relations, in which private and public are combined. This issue is most acutely manifested in criminal proceedings regarding criminal offenses against a person’s sexual freedom and sexual integrity, a special type of which is domestic sexual violence, including rape. In particular, the problem is the definition of the border between private and public. The immediate prerequisite for the emergence of the mentioned problem was the submission to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of a draft law that provides for the full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Istanbul Convention into the national legislation of Ukraine after its ratification. The authors of the draft law proposed to postpone criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Art. 152 (rape without aggravating circumstances), as well as Part 1 of Art. 153 (sexual violence) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine from the category of private prosecution to public prosecution proceedings. The article analyzes this proposal from the point of view of its consistency with other provisions of the Istanbul Convention, as well as with fundamentally important provisions of the national legislation of Ukraine. Attention is drawn to the contradiction of the proposal set out in the draft law with the constitutional rights of a person regarding the collection, storage, use and distribution of confidential information about him, subjecting him to medical, scientific or other experiments without his free consent. Arguments are given regarding the occurrence of significant obstacles in the implementation of pre-trial investigation and court proceedings in cases of this category without submitting a statement (complaint) of the victim.