Peculiarities of Prosecutor Participation in Private Cases: Ukrainian Experience
Summary: 1. Introduction. Distinguishing between Public and Private Prosecution. – 2. The Legal Nature of Private Prosecution. – 3. Features of Prosecutor Participation in Private Criminal Cases: The Example of the Supreme Court Grand Chamber Decision. – 4. Concluding Remarks.
Abstract
Background: Maintaining prosecution in criminal cases in court is a specific function of the prosecutor, which is enshrined in both the Constitution of Ukraine and the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. This function should meet not only the objectives of criminal justice but also international standards in the field of criminal justice. Criminal proceedings are divided into public and private, depending on the type of socially dangerous act. And depending on the type of accusation, the functions of the prosecutor in the exercise of their powers are different. Thus, in cases of private prosecution, the participation of the victim is crucial, and his/her refusal to prosecute may be grounds for closing the criminal proceedings. This note related to the study of the innovative approach of the Supreme Court’s law enforcement practice shows the active role of the prosecutor in considering these categories of criminal cases in court.
Methods: We thoroughly analysed the case-law of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, as well as the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and other legislative acts. We also generalised and studied the case-law of Ukrainian courts, as well as recommendations of the CoE and the doctrine of the criminal procedural law of Ukraine.
Results and Conclusions: The authors drew several conclusions about various forms of private prosecution with their own specifics, which are manifested in the aspects mentioned in this note.
About Authors
Bazeliuk Viktoriia
Cand. of Science of Law (Equiv. Ph.D.), Associate Prof. of the Department of Criminal Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine. v.v.bazelyuk@nlu.edu.ua https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0001-5223-8633
Corresponding author, responsible for conceptualization, data curation, methodology and writing. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the descriptions and the manuscript are accurate and agreed by all authors.
Competing interests: The author declares of any competing interests exist.
Disclaimer: The author declares that her opinion and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
Demyanenko Yuliya
Cand. of Science of Law (Equiv. Ph.D.), Assist. Prof. of the Department of Criminal Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine. yu.i.demyanenko@nlu.edu.ua https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0002-9424-5708
Co-author, responsible for responsible for data curation and writing. The corresponding author is responsible.
Competing interests: The author declares of any competing interests exist.
Disclaimer: The author declares that her opinion and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
Maslova Olena
Cand. of Science of Law (Equiv. Ph.D.), Assist. Prof. of the Department of Criminal Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine. o.o.maslova@nlu.edu.ua https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3151-3218
Co-author, responsible for responsible for data curation and writing. The corresponding author is responsible.
Competing interests: The author declares of any competing interests exist.
Disclaimer: The author declares that her opinion and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
The content of this article was translated with the participation of third parties under the authors’ responsibility.
Managing editor – Dr Serhii Kravtsov. English Editor – Dr Sarah White.
Copyright: © 2022 Bazeliuk V, Demyanenko Yu, Maslova O. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
References
Shybiko V, ‘The Evolution of Criminal Procedure in Ukraine over 30 Years of Independence’ (2021) 3(11) Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 23-51. DOI: 10.33327/AJEE-18-4.3-a000069.
Kaplina O, Tumanyants A, ‘ECtHR Decisions That Influenced the Criminal Procedure of Ukraine’ (2021) 1(9) Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 102–121. DOI: 10.33327/AJEE-18-4.1-a000048.
The Constitution of Ukraine, adopted at the fifth session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996 <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/254%D0%BA/96-%D0%B2%D1%80#Text> accessed 24 October 2021.
The Criminal Procedure Code [2013] VVR 9-13 <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/4651% D0%B0-17/print1330026115579985#Text> accessed 24 October 2021.
Polyansky YuE (ed), Support of public prosecution (Odessa: Phoenix 2012).
Law of Ukraine ‘On the Prosecutor’s Office’ of 5 November 1991 <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/1789-12#Text)> accessed 24 October 2021.
UN Guiding Principles on the Role of Prosecutors <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/995_859#Text> accessed 24 October 2021.
Recommendation REC (2000) 19 of the Committee of Ministers to member states ‘On the role of the public prosecution service in the criminal justice system’ (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 7 October 2000 at the 724th meeting of the Deputy Ministers) <https://supreme.court.gov.ua/userfiles/Rec_2000_19_2000_10_6.pdf )> accessed 24 October 2021.
Decree of the President of Ukraine ‘On the Strategy for the Development of the Justice System and Constitutional Judiciary for 2021-2023’ <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/231/2021#Text> accessed 24 October 2021.
Ostapets V, ‘Correlation of the concepts of “state prosecution” and “criminal prosecution” in the draft Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine’ (2009) 2 Bulletin of the National Academy of Prosecutors of Ukraine 114-119.
The Concept of Criminal Justice Reform of Ukraine, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine of 8 April 2008 <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/311/2008#Text> accessed 24 October 2021.
Blazhivsky EM, Yakymchuk MK, Kozyakov IM, Turkot MS et al., Prosecutor’s support of the public prosecution (Kyiv: Nat. Acad. of Prosecutors of Ukraine 2014).
The Criminal Code of Ukraine <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2341-14#Text> accessed 24 October 2021.
Kaplina O, ‘Conclusions and recommendations on the current topic’ [Text]: [current topic of the issue ‘National Doctrine of Criminal Procedural Law’] (2019) 9 Ukr Law 134-138.
Glovyuk I, ‘Prosecutor in criminal proceedings: constitutional and sectoral regulation of functional orientation Visnyk kryminalnoho sudochynstva’ (2017) 4 Legal Norms 20-26.
Titko IA, ‘About the legal nature of the institute of private prosecution in criminal proceedings in National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine’ (2015) 2(81) Bulletin of the Nat. Acad. of Law Sciences of Ukraine: Coll. Science. etc. 109-120.
Kostovska O, ‘Proof in cases of crimes of private prosecution’ (Cand. science thesis, University of Kyiv, Law, 2010).
Shemshuchenko Yu (ed), Great encyclopedic legal dictionary (Kyiv: Yurydychna Dumka 2007).
Tatsiya V, Groshevoy Y, Kaplina O, Shilo O (eds), Criminal procedure (Kharkiv: Pravo 2013).
Predmesnikov O, ‘The victim as a party to the prosecution in cases of private prosecution’ (2009) 2 Law Forum 345-349
Perepelytsia SI, Criminal proceedings in the form of private prosecution (ed AR Tumanyants, Kharkiv: Pravo 2015).
Resolution of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of 26 June 2019 in case no 404/6160/16-k <https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/82885531> accessed 24 October 2021.
Ozerov v Russia (App no 64962/01) <https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-98531> accessed 24 October 2021.
Decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, case no 404/6160/16-к 26 June 2019
<https://zakononline.com.ua/court-decisions/show/82885531> accessed 24 October 2021.
Reviews for article
Add a Review
How to cite it?
-
Bazeliuk V, Demyanenko Yu, Maslova O ‘Peculiarities of Prosecutor Participation in Private Cases: Ukrainian Experience’ 2022 1(13) Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 203-211. DOI: https:// doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-5.1-n000107
