THE CONCEPT AND ESSENCE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE BASICS OF NATIONAL SECURITY

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to define the concept and essence of criminal procedural evidence in criminal proceedings for crimes against the foundations of national security. The author analyzed the concept and essence of criminal procedural evidence in criminal proceedings for crimes against the foundations of national security. It was determined that crimes against the foundations of national security are socially dangerous acts (actions or inactions) provided for by the criminal law that encroach on state sovereignty, territorial integrity, the democratic constitutional system, and the national interests of Ukraine. It has been proven that evidence in a criminal trial, including crimes against the foundations of national security, consists in collecting evidence, securing it, checking it, making an appropriate assessment, and obtaining substantiated conclusions in criminal proceedings. It was concluded that if we generalize the concepts of crimes against the national security foundations and evidence, then it can be said that the criminal procedural proof of crimes against the national security foundations of Ukraine consists in collecting, researching, evaluating and obtaining substantiated conclusions in criminal proceedings regarding socially dangerous acts provided for by the criminal law (actions or inactions) encroaching on state sovereignty, territorial integrity, democratic constitutional system and national interests of Ukraine. Criminal procedural proof of crimes against the foundations of national security consists of such elements as collection (detection, fixation (consolidation), extraction of evidence), research and evaluation of evidence. It has been investigated that since the introduction of martial law, changes have been made to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding the regulation of the process of proof, including those related to crimes against the foundations of national security. It was concluded that such changes raise certain issues that need to be worked out by the legislator or clarified by the Supreme Court. This is especially relevant for crimes against the foundations of national security, where most of the evidence is gathered on the territory where hostilities are taking place.