Vozniuk O. Abuse of procedural rights in criminal proceedings

Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the specialty 081 – Law. – National Academy of Internal Affairs, Kyiv, 2025. The dissertation is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of abuse of procedural rights arising in criminal proceedings. The relevance of the study is due to the need to reform the national legal system in the context of Ukraine's European development. The study was carried out with the aim of identifying the causes, consequences and mechanisms for counteracting this phenomenon, which causes delays in case consideration, violation of equality of parties, slowing down the judicial decision-making process and undermining confidence in the judicial system. The author analyzes the essence, signs and legal nature of abuse, and identifies the criteria for distinguishing between good faith assertion of rights and unfair use of procedural rights and powers granted. The author reveals the conceptual approaches to defining the abuse of procedural rights which traditionally contradict both the letter of the law and its spirit. The author provides a comparative analysis of national and international standards, focusing on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, which demonstrates the need to integrate modern European approaches to qualifying the actions of participants to criminal proceedings. The study contains a systematization of abuses which can be manifested both through active actions (filing numerous unfounded motions, appeals, applications for recusal of a judge or change of the court composition) and through passive behavior (delay in conducting investigative actions, failure to schedule court hearings at reasonable intervals, inaction when familiarizing oneself with the case file). It is substantiated that abuse of procedural rights is not necessarily accompanied by a clear violation of specific rules, but contradicts the general legal principles of good faith, competition and equality of parties, which are the basic principles of fair trial.