scholarly journals THE USE OF POSSIBILITIES OF LINGUISTIC EXPERTISE TO ESTABLISH SIGNS OF PROVOCATION

2021 ◽  
pp. 656-673
Author(s):  
N. Akhtyrska

The article discusses topical issues of the use of evidence obtained as a result of covert (investigative) search actions (hereinafter - CISA), in particular, control over the commission of a crime. An analysis of the investigative and judicial practice testifies to the ambiguous interpretation of the tactics of the CISA, which leads to the ruling of acquittals by the courts, since signs of provocation are established in the actions of law enforcement officials. The judicial practice has not developed a unified approach to assessing the actual circumstances of control over the commission of a crime. Different interpretations are allowed by the courts of first instance and appeal. International convention standards provide for the possibility of such measures that are effective in the fight against corruption. The European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter - the ECHR) also recognizes the legality of covert operations in the fight against organized crime and corruption. At the same time, the ECHR points to a number of signs that allow determining the legality of such actions. In particular, the ECHR identifies two groups of criteria: substantive and procedural. Some relate to the nature of the actions of both parties themselves, while others allow the court to assess and verify the procedural grounds and the procedure for conducting the operation. Despite the fact that the Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights are considered a source of law and the courts of Ukraine are obliged to use them in legal proceedings, in practice a number of unresolved questions arise when assessing evidence. That is, whether they are reliable and proper. Alternatively, is there a provocation, that is, a criminal offense, excluding person’s accusation? The general criteria for provocation is the repeated offer by the agent to commit any illegal actions; verbal, organizational, psychological acts aimed at provoking, an attempt to evoke compassion, pity; use of friendly ties. The very fact of expressing “abstract readiness” (to hand over an unlawful benefit) on the part of law enforcement agencies is not a provocation. A new direction in expert practice, linguistic expertise, which solves questions of speech and law, is used in Ukraine in this category of criminal proceedings extremely rarely. Since the operational purchase, test purchase, special investigative experiment are carried out in conditions of direct establishment of interpersonal communication, the content of communication should be considered from the point of view of tactical characteristics (psychological, organizational, speech), for the presence of a call to commit illegal actions by insisting, persuasion: – the use of nihilistic culture, the prevailing illegal practice (“Everybody does it”, “You have to live”), – willingness to pay (“I collected money”), – involvement in the subject’s problems, which he/she can solve with the help of illegal benefits. Using the example of a specific criminal proceeding, the author reveals the mistakes of the investigating authorities and justifies the advisability of raising the level of awareness regarding the use of the possibilities of linguistic expertise to establish signs of provocation, indicating passive corruption or the exclusion of charges.

2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-108
Author(s):  
Р. Л. Степанюк ◽  
В. В. Кікінчук ◽  
М. Г. Щербаковський

The work is based on the analysis of the scientific literature, criminal and criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine, which regulates public relations associated with the identification, detection, investigation and judicial review of cases of illegal benefit by officials, on the precedents of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue, as well as the study and summarizing the materials of 200 criminal cases on illegal benefits considered by the courts of Ukraine in 2015-2019. It has been established that proof of corruption offences in criminal proceedings is the activity of the subjects of criminal proceedings, which consists of collecting, assessing and verifying factual data in order to establish circumstances relevant to the investigation. At the same time, procedural and tactical mistakes, as well as abuses on the part of prosecution agents, which lead to deficiencies in the process of proving the guilt of officials who commit corruption offences, are very common in the practice of the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies in this area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-40
Author(s):  
Valeriy Konnov

The article consider analyses some legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights which connected with the actions of law enforcement officials resulted with the death of suspects during detention. The author made the conclusion that a global understanding by the ECHR of the right to life doesn’t pay attention to the objective legal nature of criminal threats. The ECHR provides the idea that law enforcement agencies play the role of defender of society, but they don’t work as a power tool designed to protect specific actions that could entail social consequences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 334-339
Author(s):  
Zubrytska M. V.

The legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights contain clear criteria for distinguishing provocation of a crime that violates the requirements of paragraph 1 of Art. 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, from lawful conduct in the use of secret methods in criminal proceedings: 1) verification of the validity of the provocation (material criterion of provocation); 2) the procedure for reviewing the complaint on provocation (procedural criterion of provocation); 3) methodology of assessment of the European Court of Human Rights. When considering a defendant's complaint about the presence of signs of provocation in the actions of law enforcement agencies, national courts must establish the following procedural criteria: 1) whether there were grounds for monitoring the commission of the crime; 2) what is the measure of interference of law enforcement officers in the commission of a crime; 3) the nature of the actions to which the accused was subjected. In the legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights, examples of provocation to commit a crime are, in particular, the following: law enforcement on its own initiative contact with the applicant in the absence of objective suspicion of his involvement in criminal activity or propensity to commit a criminal offense; 2) renewal of the proposal by law enforcement officers, despite the previous refusal, to insist, exerting pressure. Based on the analysis of the legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights, it was concluded that a new presumption has actually appeared in the criminal law of Ukraine - provocation of a crime. The basis for it is Art. 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, as well as the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in cases of provocation. The presumption of provocation of a crime is that an accused who has stated that he committed a crime under the influence of provocative actions of law enforcement officers cannot be prosecuted unless the investigation and the court establish otherwise. In national jurisprudence, courts most often considered the following situations as provocation of a crime: detection of a crime in the absence of objective information about the preparation for the commission of a crime or the beginning of its commission; inciting (pushing) a person to commit a crime through active and persistent actions; violation of the procedural order of conducting procedural actions. Keywords: provocation of a crime, provocation of bribery, incitement, initiative, exposing a crime.


2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-244
Author(s):  
О. С. Розумовський ◽  
О. О. Кочура

The author has studied the issue of the origin and formation of the European Court of Human Rights after the Second World War, steps in the establishment and development of this Court, as well as the actions of the Member States to consolidate the development of the European Court of Human Rights at specialized conferences with the support of the Committee of Ministers. The list of regulatory and legislative acts adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the establishment of the rule of law in regard to the understanding of human rights in the activities of Ukrainian courts has been researched. Since the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has become part of national legislation after its ratification by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, more detailed study should be conducted regarding the urgent task of fully understanding the content of this international treaty and the main mechanisms for implementing its norms. The author has analyzed the implementation of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the example of its specific decisions into criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine by applying the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court in its activities and problematic aspects of their practical implementation. Particular attention has been paid to the study of problematic aspects of the use of these decisions in practice by highlighting the rulings of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court issued in 2019. The author has analyzed the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in regard to the conducted secret (search) actions by law enforcement agencies with further disclosure ob obtained evidence to the defense party; it has been also pointed out that the right to disclose evidence contained in criminal proceedings is not absolute to the defense and may be limited only in cases when there are the interests of national security, information protection or witness protection concerning the methods and forms of law enforcement agencies’ activity. The author has made propositions to resolve certain situations related to the implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Ukraine.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-78
Author(s):  
Т. П. Матюшкова

One of the urgent tasks of criminalistics has been studied – the content and elements of forensic security of the participants of criminal proceedings have been determined. Traditionally, this activity is given considerable attention in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, as well as operative and search activities. The few works of criminalists mainly reflect the problems of anonymity of interrogating the witnesses, recommendations on tactical features of the interrogation and identification by the means of videoconference. Thus, there are currently no comprehensive studies of forensic aspects of ensuring security for the participants of criminal proceedings in Ukraine. Systematization and improvement of theoretical provisions of forensic security of the participants of criminal proceedings, determining the content and elements of forensic aspects of the researched activity will facilitate both further development of forensic science and have a positive impact on investigative and judicial practice. The author has defined such forensic aspects of ensuring the security for the participants of criminal proceedings as technical and forensic, tactical and forensic, methodological and forensic. Technical and forensic aspect should cover the development and improvement of scientific principles and forensic recommendations for the application of special technical means and methods of ensuring the security of persons. The content of tactical and forensic security of the participants of criminal proceedings will be the development of scientific principles and forensic recommendations for the application of organizational measures and tactical means and methods (tactics, tactical combinations, tactical operations) during the preparation, conduction and recording of certain investigative (search) actions with the participation of persons, in respect of whom security measures are provided. Methodological and forensic security of the participants of criminal proceedings should include the development of methodical recommendations on such specific features of investigating certain types of crimes due to the security of individuals, in particular due to the interaction of law enforcement agencies in ensuring the security for the participants of criminal proceedings, the use of special knowledge, cooperation with national state institutions, law enforcement agencies of other countries, etc.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (11) ◽  
pp. 3048-3052
Author(s):  
Oleksandr M. Drozdov ◽  
Oksana V. Lazukova ◽  
Serhiy O. Shulgin

The aim: Based on the research, to develop a scientific concept of medical and procedural aspects of restricting a person’s right to physiological integrity related to the removal of prohibited items from his/her body and formulate recommendations for their implementation in law enforcement practice. Materials and methods: The empirical basis of the study were five decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the results of a survey of prosecutors, investigators, and lawyers, processing of materials of criminal proceedings. The practical evidence of the authors, their advocacy, and service in the prosecutor’s office was also taken into account. To demonstrate the method of prohibited substances’ concealment in a human body, a photographic image was used based on the results of the examination of a person using a scanner conducted by customs officials. The methodological basis of the research is a complex combination of general-scientific and special methods, in particular, system-structural, comparative-legal; sociological; statistical; as well as the method of generalization. Conclusions: The removal of evidence from a person’s body is a strip search. The basis for this investigative action should be a court decision, and in urgent cases, the prosecutor. This investigative action must be carried out with the obligatory participation of a physician. To this end, it is necessary to develop an appropriate medical protocol.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-65
Author(s):  
Anneli Soo ◽  
Kerly Espenberg

An online survey was conducted in Estonia among 223 judges, prosecutors, police officers and victim support officers; 223 victims were interviewed via phone and 26 legal professionals (including lawyers) were interviewed face to face with an aim to determine the level of protection of victims after implementation of the Directive 2012/29/EU. The results reveal that victims lack knowledge about their rights although law enforcement agencies are, in general, convinced that they do a good job in this respect. Victims desire criminal proceedings in which they are respected, their opinion is heard and matters, and they are kept informed about developments of the case. The reality, however, does not meet their expectations. As law enforcement agencies are focused on determining guilt of a defendant, victims’ needs fall to the background. There seems to be a dichotomy between the expectations of law enforcement officials and those of the victims: While the latter awaits to be contacted and informed, the officials expect at least certain initiative from victims themselves. The idea that victims should be allowed to speak just to provide them with satisfaction and sense of fair proceedings is still somewhat strange for the authorities. When it comes to sentencing, some state officials believe that the opinions of a victim should not even be asked as determination of the punishment is court’s business. Victims’ opinions are much more readily heard in the conciliation proceedings, which are based on the ideas of restorative justice, but in which defendants’ needs seem to have been forgotten.


Author(s):  
Petro Olishchuk ◽  

The article analyzes the principle of non bis in idem in the context of the criminal legislation of Ukraine, as well as the identification of cases of violations of this principle by law enforcement bodies during the qualification of criminal offences and during the issue of judicial decisions. It is noted that criminal law is a branch of law that is connected with the establishment of a ban on committing a certain act under the threat of the application by the state of measures of coercion of a criminal nature. The establishment of such a ban and the determination of measures of criminal-legal coercion, as a consequence, for its violation, is potentially related to the restriction of human rights. Obviously, the restriction of these rights cannot be arbitrary and chaotic, but must be subject to certain rules, ideas, which reflect the general development of society. These include the principles of criminal law, in particular the principle of criminal law, enshrined in art. Article 61 of the Constitution of Ukraine states: “No one can be brought to legal responsibility twice for the same type of offence”. According to Article 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, “no one may be brought to criminal responsibility for the same criminal offence more than once”. The article highlights the characteristic features of the investigated principle. It is stated that its role is extremely important for the internal construction of the field of law, as well as the correct normalisation and law enforcement. There are cases of violations of this principle by law enforcement bodies during the qualification of criminal offences and during the issue of judicial decisions, on examples of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and Ukrainian judicial proceedings. The European Court of Human Rights’s case-law on the application of Article 4 of the Convention is inconsistent and, in some cases, even contradictory. The principle of non bis in idem in the resolution of the question of the inadmissibility of double incrimination ensures the observance of the rights of the person during the implementation of criminal prosecution, as well as ensures the completeness of criminal legal qualification, the individualization of criminal responsibility and punishment.


Author(s):  
Dmуtrо Pylypenko ◽  

The article analyzes the features of the beginning of criminal proceedings defined by the current criminal procedure law of Ukraine. The criminal procedural norms which define an initial stage in criminal proceedings are investigated. The provisions of the norms of the legislation which determine the legal fact of the beginning of proceedings in the case are analyzed. The positions of scientists in this regard are considered. In particular, the scientific concepts concerning the implementation in the norms of the current law of the provision that existed in the content of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1960, namely the decision to initiate a criminal case. The analysis of the practice of application of the current norms of the criminal procedural law in this regard for the author's point of view on the expediency of such a step is analyzed. The author's position on the preservation of the existing law within the existing provisions, on the commencement of criminal proceedings from the moment of entering information into the unified register of pre-trial investigations. This position is fully correlated with the provisions of the concept of criminal justice reform. There are also examples from the practical activities of law enforcement agencies, which were the basis for this conclusion. The article also examines the issue of determining the time limits for the start of pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings and entering information into a single register of pre-trial investigations. The positions of scientists on this issue, which are quite different and sometimes polar, are analyzed. The author's attention is focused on certain difficulties that arise in law enforcement agencies during the proper initiation of criminal proceedings. It is emphasized that the term available in the current law for twenty-four hours is extremely insignificant for the correct determination of the qualification of the offense and its composition. It is proposed to increase the period to three days during which the investigator must enter information into the unified register of pre-trial investigations and initiate criminal proceedings. It is these time limits that must be sufficient for the investigator or prosecutor to properly comply with the requirements of the applicable criminal procedure law.


In the article, an attempt is made to consider the recently introduced additional criminal procedural guarantees of the protection of attorney-client privilege from the point of view of the system of the Russian criminal procedural legislation and in the light of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. The author comes to the conclusion that additional guarantees of protection of attorney-client privilege introduced by the Federal law № 73-FZ contribute to the further development of the adversarial principles of the Russian criminal proceedings. At the same time, some innovations seem to be controversial. The supplement introduced to part 2 of the Article 75 of the Russian Criminal Procedural Code (CPC) concerning inadmissibility of using advocatory items and documents as evidence come into conflct with the Article 17 of the CPC and do not constitute the whole legal system with other provisions of the criminal procedure law. The rules of part 3 of the Article 450.1 of the CPC, according to the author, are incompatible with part 5 of the Article 165 of the CPC regulating urgent procedures of investigative actions requiring judicial permission, as well as part 2 of the Article 450.1 of the CPC. The author makes a range of proposals to improve the legislation and its application.


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