Procedural status of defendant in criminal proceedings

Under the conditions of reforming the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine, the status of a defender acquires qualitatively new, positive features. The process of reforming criminal justice necessitates the study of important issues of guarantees of the rights and freedoms of a person suspected or accused of committing a criminal offense, in particular the participation of a lawyer. Important issues to consider are involved criminal defense lawyer as one of the most important participants in criminal proceedings, research problems fu’ related to the implementation of the legitimate rights and interests of man and citizen. To date, one of the aspects of the problem remains the uncertainty of procedural rights, the exercise of which is carried out directly by the suspect, accused and can not be entrusted to counsel. Defining and clearly enshrining in the CPC of Ukraine the relevant rights and responsibilities of defense counsel will be a guarantee of effective protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of the individual, as imperfect provisions of the law currently make it impossible to exercise the rights of defense counsel to collect evidence in full. The declared issues are relevant and timely, as the legal status of a lawyer and a defense attorney is, although somewhat related, but unequal concepts both in terms of scope and source of legal regulation. Based on the provisions of the CPC of Ukraine, the rights of defense counsel are exercised exclusively on the basis of CCP Ukraine, and the activity of a lawyer as a professional activity of a person is regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Advocacy and Advocacy”, which determines the procedural status of defense counsel. It is established that. in the provisions of Art. 46 of the CPC of Ukraine, it is appropriate to provide general provisions for the participation of defense counsel in criminal proceedings, which, inter alia, provide that one person may have several defense attorneys, each of whom may appear during criminal proceedings and participate independently. Article 47 of the CPC of Ukraine should be referred to as “Rights and responsibilities of the defense counsel”, which enshrines the relevant rights and obligations of the defense counsel, cases of refusal to perform his duties, as well as what he is prohibited from performing during the protection function. However, when formulating the provisions of these articles, it is inappropriate to implement all the provisions of Art. 20 of the Law of Ukraine “On Advocacy and Advocacy”, as some of them coincide with the provisions of the CPC of Ukraine and do not require additional consolidation. The inclusion in the newly formed articles of the CPC of Ukraine of some provisions of this law is not appropriate, as they actually contradict the CPC of Ukraine, which will complicate the implementation of the defender of their rights and responsibilities in criminal proceedings. In particular, the CPC of Ukraine should not indicate a “lawyer’s” request, as the provisions of this Code regulate relations between participants in criminal proceedings without signs of professional orientation, which, in fact, makes it impossible to use the term “lawyer’s request”.