EXPERT AS A PARTICIPANT IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the theoretical and methodological aspects of an expert’s participation in criminal proceedings under the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine in 2012. On the basis of the norms of the current legislation and scientific works of scientists, the procedural position of an expert as a participant in criminal proceedings is investigated, its content and structural elements (rights, duties, responsibility) are characterized. It has been established that: the rights of an expert are the ability to act in a certain way, guided by personal motives and needs, provided by the current regulatory legal acts and provided by the state; the duties of an expert are a measure of due conduct, determined within the framework of the law. The range of duties established by the rules of law should be considered exhaustive; the responsibility of an expert is his duty to endure restrictive measures established by the sanctions of articles of the legislation of Ukraine in case of violation of the prescriptions of procedural norms. Responsibility, therefore, acts as a form of fulfillment of an obligation (positive responsibility). However, responsibility has an independent meaning, special grounds, the procedure for assignment and, as a result, must be considered independently (negative responsibility). The expert’s liability is based on the commission of an offense (misconduct or crime). The work reveals the concept of an expert and his place in the system of participants in criminal proceedings. It is noted that one of the basic assignments of an expert in the field of criminal proceedings is to provide the parties to the process, the opportunity to use special knowledge, the need for which may arise in the process of criminal proceedings. It has been established that the expert is an independent subject, he is not interested in the outcome of the case, and has no right to “contribute” to the side of the criminal proceedings that attracted him to the examination. The participation of an expert in criminal proceedings contributes to a fair resolution of the case, since the examination is carried out by a person who has nothing to do with this case, except as conditioned by his status as an expert. It has been established that any interest of an expert personally, his close relatives or members of his family in the results of criminal proceedings may result in a deliberate or involuntary distortion of evidentiary information. This, in turn, can lead to a violation of the rights and legitimate interests of other participants in criminal proceedings, inevitably lead to conclusions that do not correspond to the actual circumstances of the case, to an illegal and unfair decision, a judicial error. The central duty of the expert is determined and the rights are provided for its implementation. Central among the duties of an expert is the obligation to personally conduct a full study and give a reasoned and objective written opinion on the questions posed to him, and, if necessary, to explain it (conclusion). To implement this obligation, such basic rights of an expert are provided as the right to get acquainted with the materials of criminal proceedings related to the subject of research; ask questions related to the subject and objects of research to persons who take part in criminal proceedings. Based on the results of the study, proposals were formulated aimed at improving the criminal procedural law in terms of consolidating the elements of the procedural status of an expert and regulating the mechanism of their implementation in criminal proceedings.