Problems of legal regulation of the procedure for extending the term of pretrial investigation
The article concentrates on the analysis of the main provisions of the criminal procedure legislation on the procedure for extending the term of pre-trial investigation. It is established that a pre-trial investigation shall be conducted within the terms set out in Article 219 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine and unjustified extension of the pre-trial investigation leads to the violation of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of participants in criminal proceedings. It is investigated that the term of pre-trial investigation of a crime can be extended by the prosecutor – supervisor of pre-trial proceedings at the request of the investigator, which the prosecutor is obliged to consider no later than three days from the date of its receipt, but in any case before the expiration of the pre-trial investigation period. It is noted that the prosecutor’s decision to extend the pre-trial investigation or to refuse it is not subject to appeal during the pre-trial investigation. Attention is drawn to the fact that in some cases, investigators apply to the prosecutor with a request to extend the pre-trial investigation period several days before its expiration, which may result in an untimely extension of the specified period by the prosecutor. Therefore, in order to prevent missing the deadline, the investigator orders the suspension of the pre-trial investigation on various grounds, mainly due to the need to perform procedural actions within the framework of international cooperation. It is proved that in most cases, based on the results of consideration of the investigator’s request by the prosecutor, an order is issued to extend such period, while a serious disadvantage of the specified procedure for extending the period is that the prosecutor issues an order to extend the period of pre-trial investigation, which is suspended at the time of such order. It is argued that the current criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine prohibits conducting any investigative actions after the suspension of the pre-trial investigation. Proposals have been made to improve the legal regulation of the procedure for extending the term of pre-trial investigation.