Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine
Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (Кримінальний процесуальний кодекс України; Kryminalnyi protsesualnyi kodeks Ukrainy). The main legislation in which criminal procedural law of Ukraine is recorded and codified. In general, criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine consists of the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine; international treaties the binding nature of which has been recognized and approved by the Supreme Council of Ukraine; the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine; and some other applicable laws of Ukraine. Of these, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine is the main normative act in the field regulating relations between the investigation of criminal offenses and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence, the Criminal Procedure Code of the Ukrainian SSR of 1960 remained in force, but with some significant revisions and additions. At the same time, after ‘the minor judicial reform of 2001–2’ there arose a necessity to develop new criminal procedure legislation. As a result, the new Criminal Procedure Code was adopted on 13 April 2012, and it came into force on 20 November 2012.
The Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine is divided into 11 sections and 46 chapters. The code regulates criminal procedural relations at all stages of criminal proceedings. As of May 2022, the code consists of the total number of 636 articles. Section 1 contains definitions of the code’s primary objectives as well as general provisions of criminal procedure, such as the principles of criminal proceedings (the rule of law; legitimacy; presumption of innocence and conclusive proof of guilt; prohibition of double jeopardy; adversarial nature of parties and the freedom to present their evidence to the court and prove the preponderance of evidence before the court, etc), rights and duties of the participants in the procedure (accused, defenders, prosecutors, plaintiffs and their representatives, etc), and evidence and proving. Section 2 deals with measures to ensure criminal proceedings. Section 3 addresses pre-trial investigation. Section 4 regulates court proceedings in the first instance. Section 5 covers criminal proceedings related to reviewing court’s decisions. Section 6 has to do with special procedures for criminal proceedings. Section 7 provides rules for restoring lost records of criminal proceedings. Section 8 deals with execution of court decisions. Section 9 covers international cooperation in criminal proceedings. And Sections 10 and 11 provide final and transitional provisions.
The primary objectives of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine are to ensure the implementation of the tasks of criminal proceedings; to protect individuals, society, and the state from criminal offence; to protect rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of participants in criminal proceedings; as well as to insure quick, comprehensive, and impartial investigation and trial in order that everyone who committed a criminal offence be prosecuted in proportion to his/her guilt, no one innocent be accused or convicted, no one be subjected to ungrounded procedural compulsion, and an appropriate legal procedure be applied to each party to criminal proceedings.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kryminal'nyi protsesual'nyi kodeks Ukraïny [13 April 2012]: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/4651-17#Text
Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine [13 April 2012]: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/4651-17?lang=en#Text
Kateryna Shunevych
[This article was written in 2022.]