STATE PROTECTION AND SECURITY OF PERSONS PARTICIPATING IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS, ACCORDING TO THE LEGISLATION OF UKRAINE
Authors:   Lviv University of Business and Law, Skrynkovskyy Ruslan , Hlushchenko Svitlana ,   Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Khmyz Mariana ,   Lviv University of Business and Law, Harasym Pavlo ,   General Directorate of the National Police in the Lviv region, Kosiuta Mykhailo ,   National University «Odesa Law Academy»
Published: September 2021

The article reveals the features of state protection and security of persons participating in criminal proceedings, according to the legislation of Ukraine. It was found that the legal foundations of state protection and security of persons involved in criminal proceedings, in Ukraine are governed by the provisions of regulatory documents, in particular, such as: a) the Law of Ukraine «On ensuring the safety of persons participating in criminal proceedings»; b) the Law of Ukraine «On State Protection of Employees of the Court and Law Enforcement Agencies»; c) Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Ukraine «On the application of legislation, which provides for state protection of judges, employees of the court and law enforcement agencies and persons involved in legal proceedings»; d) Decision of the Council of Judges of Ukraine «On measures to ensure the safety of courts and judges, the protection of judges and persons who participate in the implementation of legal proceedings»; e) Recommendation No. R(97) 13 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member States Concerning Intimidation of Witnesses and the Rights of the Defence, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 10 September 1997 at the 600th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies; f) Recommendation Rec (2005) 9 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on the protection of witnesses and collaborators of justice, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 20 April 2005 at the 924th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies. It has been established that the right to protection and security through the use of special measures has the persons who made a statement to the relevant law enforcement agency about a criminal offense, persons who otherwise participated in criminal proceedings, the victim (victims) or his representative (representatives) in criminal proceedings, an accused, a suspect, legal representatives and defenders, a civil plaintiff and a civil defendant, as well as their representatives in a case for compensation for damage caused as a result of a criminal offense, a representative of a legal entity in respect of which the proceedings are being carried out, employees of the probation body, witness, accuser, specialist, expert, attesting witness and translator, family members and close relatives of the above persons, in order to prevent influence on the actions and testimonies of participants in criminal proceedings. It has been determined that the authorities responsible for ensuring the safety of persons involved in legal proceedings, in particular in criminal proceedings, are the state bodies of Ukraine, which make appropriate decisions on the application of security measures, as well as directly implement security measures. It is noted that the prospects for further research in this direction are the study of the features of the witness protection program in Ukraine and its improvement, taking into account foreign experience, in particular the USA experience in this direction.