THE RIGHT TO PROTECTION IN LEGAL POSITIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present certain legal positions of the Supreme Court in criminal proceedings, which are conclusions regarding the application of norms providing for the right to defense. The necessity of the above is due to the fact that the conclusions regarding the application of legal norms set forth in the Supreme Court’s rulings are taken into account by other courts when applying such legal norms. Thus, the legislation provides for the binding legal positions of the Supreme Court for other courts when they apply the relevant norms of law in the course of administering justice. The Supreme Court in this way ensures the equal application of legal norms by courts of various specializations in the order and manner determined by the procedural law. In this case, such a mechanism for ensuring the uniform application of legal norms by courts is enshrined in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and is consistent with the Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges”. In this article, without aiming to investigate the legal nature of the positions (conclusions regarding the application of legal norms) of the Supreme Court, we nevertheless note the following. Among the individual definitions of “legal positions/conclusions regarding the application of the rules of the Supreme Court”, we cite one of them, which, in our opinion, quite fully characterizes this concept: «The legal position of the Supreme Court in criminal proceedings is the view set out in the resolution of the highest body in the judicial system of Ukraine as a result of the review of the justice of the court decision, which is mandatory when solving similar cases regarding the interpretation of criminal law and criminal procedural norms to the established circumstances of criminal proceedings , in which models of methods of resolving legal conflicts, overcoming gaps in legal regulation are theoretically substantiated, and judicial norms are created, thanks to which the unity and stability of judicial practice is achieved» [1, с. 172]. Currently, we offer a number of the following legal positions of the Supreme Court regarding the application of legal norms that regulate the right to defense, the observance of which by the courts should contribute to the formation of uniform judicial practice and the minimization of violations of the right to defense.