Gurich O. Realization of adversarial principles during pre-trial investigation

Dissertation for the scientific degree of the Candidate of Legal Sciences, specialty 12.00.09 – Criminal Process and Criminology; Forensic Examination; Operation Search Activity (081 – Law). – National Academy of Internal Affairs, Kyiv, 2024. In the dissertation, a comprehensive study of the theoretical foundations and practical problems of implementing the principles of adversarial nature during the pre-trial investigation was carried out. It was proved that during the historical development, the domestic criminal procedural form went through the stages from the adversarial-accusatory proceedings of the private-claim type through the inquisitional to the mixed-type criminal proceedings, which permanently move towards the expansion of the adversarial public-claim type with the spread of its rules and to the stage of pre-trial investigation. The modern stage of development of criminal procedural legislation is characterized by a mixed form of proceedings with the spread of adversarial procedures to individual institutions of pre-trial investigation. It was determined that at the stage of pre-trial investigation, the adversarial nature of criminal proceedings spread in 2001 as a result of small judicial reform and improved after the adoption of the CPC of Ukraine in 2012. The statement that the adversarial nature of the parties to criminal proceedings should be considered as one of two categories was improved: 1) characteristics of the criminal process, which defines the historical form of creation of criminal proceedings; 2) the basis of criminal proceedings, which defines the procedure for the implementation of criminal proceedings in the form of opposing the legal positions of the prosecution and the defence. It was substantiated that the adversarial nature of the parties as the basis of criminal proceedings is a complex legal category, which is characterized by a set of constituent elements that should be singled out as its structural elements, and not as separate, independent characteristics. It was proposed in the course of interpretation of the principles of adversarial nature of the parties in criminal proceedings to consider it as a complex legal category, which covers: the method of legal regulation, legal procedure (procedural form, procedural regime) of implementation of the established procedural norms, the method of studying the circumstances of criminal proceedings.