(2018) 2 Visn. Nac. akad. prokur. Ukr. 73–85
doi
Title of the article	New Legislative Approaches to Determine the Duration of a Pre-trial Investigation
Author(s)	INNA YEROMENKO PhD student, Private Higher Educational Institution “European University”, chief research officer, department of scientific and methodological support of prosecutor’s participation in criminal proceedings, Scientific Research Institute, National Prosecution Academy of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, eiv15@ukr.net
Short title of the journal (ISSN)	Visn. Nac. akad. prokur. Ukr.
Year	2018
Issue	2
Pages	[73–85]
Language	Ukrainian
Abstract	The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (CPC of Ukraine) of March 15, 2018, set a new procedure to determine the duration of a pre-trial investigation and its continuation. At the same time, the adopted provisions contain certain conceptual mistakes that give rise to problems in practice. The purpose of the article is to highlight the current procedure for the timing of a pre-trial investigation, and the problems of applying the CPC of Ukraine in this part, and to outline ways of resolving them. According to the new edition of Art. 219 of the CPC of Ukraine the duration of a pre-trial investigation is to be calculated starting from the introduction of information about a criminal offense into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI). Today, two periods are differentiated which compose the general duration of a pre-trial investigation: 1) the time until the day the person is informed of the suspicion; 2) the time from the day the person is informed of the suspicion of committing a criminal offense. A number of practical challenges associated with the application of the current version of paragraph 2 of part 3 of Art. 219 of the CPC of Ukraine, which stipulates that the term from the date of the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings until the day it is canceled by an investigative judge shall be included in the duration of a pre-trial investigation. Currently, this provision provides the party of defense with an opportunity to abuse procedure means, so that a suspect can avoid a state reacting to a particularly grave offense committed by them on purely formal grounds. Entry of such a term to the general period of a pre-trial investigation should take place exclusively in the case of making illegal decisions by an investigator and a prosecutor when deciding on the suspension or restoration of criminal proceedings. From now on, prosecutors and investigative judges will continue the pre-trial investigation period. At the same time, the term of the pre-trial investigation before notifying a person of a suspicion of committing an offense may be continued repeatedly by an investigator, and, as it follows from the legal structure, it is for a specified period of time, and not within its limits, which is not always justified. It is considered to be unjustified the practice of the court regarding the refusal to extend the term of a pre-trial investigation only on the grounds that the prosecutor did not extend the pre-specified period to three months. Because of the rule-making technique mistakes the Art. 284 of the CPC of Ukraine contains two paragraphs 10, which reflect different grounds for the closure of a criminal proceeding. According to the results of the study, the author agrees that the moment to start the duration of a pre-trial investigation is a moment of registration of a criminal offence in the URPI. But it is also proposed to amend the procedure to determine the duration of a pre-trial investigation in suspended criminal proceedings, and to correct the provisions of the law on continuing the terms of a pre-trial investigation until the moment a person is informed of the suspicion and a criminal proceeding is closed.
Keywords	pre-trial investigation; reasonable terms; terms of a pre-trial investigation; criminal proceeding; extension of deadlines; closure of criminal proceeding.
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