(2018) 4 Visn. Nac. akad. prokur. Ukr. 54–65
doi
Title of the article	Legal Definition of the Status of the Prosecutor in Ukraine
Author(s)	NATALIIA NAULIK PhD in Law, Docent, head, department of initial and continuous training of civil servants of public prosecution service of Ukraine, Institute for Continuing Professional Development, National Prosecution Academy of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, naulik0406@ukr.net
Short title of the journal (ISSN)	Visn. Nac. akad. prokur. Ukr.
Year	2018
Issue	4
Pages	[54–65]
Language	Ukrainian
Abstract	Modern legislative changes influence the reform of the prosecutor’s office in Ukraine, introducing new notions as recommended by European institutions. The author draws attention to the problem of legal definition of the status of the prosecutor as the Law of Ukraine “On Prosecutor’s Office” (the Law) does not simplify the application of its norms, but rather complicates, and accentuates the legal nihilism of lawmakers. The definition of the notion ‘status of the prosecutor’ to date is only a theoretical category, which in most cases is compared with the notion ‘legal status of the prosecutor’, although the legislator introduces the phrase ‘status of the prosecutor’ in the legal vocabulary. The purpose of the article is to provide theoretical and legal analysis of the definition of the status of the prosecutor in Ukraine. The author draws attention to the fact that to fulfil objectives and to exercise his/her powers the prosecutor is empowered with specific rights and duties, which constitute the essential element of his/her status and contribute to achieving the aims of human rights and freedoms, state’s and citizens’ common interests protection. The status of the prosecutor is special as the prosecutor being a special subject of legal relations is empowered by the legislation with typical only for the prosecutor rights and duties, and has additional guarantees and particular requirements to gain such a status. The Law defines a clear list of persons who are prosecutors. The author argues that any person holding an administrative position in the prosecutor’s office is granted the status of the prosecutor, but not every prosecutor holds an administrative position. Thus, the dismissal of the prosecutor from an administrative position does not result in the deprivation of the status of the prosecutor, which is the additional guarantee of the prosecutor’s independence in Ukraine. The status of the prosecutor is a general notion, which includes rights (powers), duties, guarantees of independence, special types of liability and mechanisms for its application, belonging to citizenship, special rules of ethical conduct, special procedure for acquiring the status of the prosecutor (entry into the office, which gives the person the status of the prosecutor). In any case a person holding the status of the prosecutor (independently on the position, business trip and granted duties) is empowered with special prosecutorial rights and obligations. The conclusion is offered that the status of the prosecutor is a set of legal provisions, provided in the Constitution of Ukraine and other laws of Ukraine, which define the following: uniform rights and duties of prosecutors as of the persons who implement the constitutional functions of the prosecutor’s office; organizational and managerial functions of the prosecutor; requirements for persons who are in service in the prosecutor’s office, the procedure for enrollment, recruitment and service; liability of the prosecutor, including the disciplinary one; financial and material (including social) security of the prosecutor; rules of professional ethics and conduct of the prosecutor (general principles and moral norms the prosecutor should follow while at work and off-duty). The rights and duties of the prosecutor as the main elements of his/her status are regulated in detail by separate legislative acts for each of the constitutional functions of the prosecutor’s office. However, the legislator determines the status of the prosecutor as holding by a person of a particular position in the prosecutor’s office, and not the set of provisions provided in the Constitution of Ukraine and laws of Ukraine. The author offers (in order to eliminate the ambiguous interpretation of the analyzed notions) to supplement Section III “The Status of the Prosecutor” of the Law of Ukraine “On Prosecutor’s Office” with the norms regulating: requirements to persons who are in service in the prosecutor’s offices, enrollment procedure, recruitment and service; liability of prosecutors, in particular disciplinary; financing and material (including social) security of prosecutors; rules of professional ethics and conduct of the prosecutors. Such changes will contribute to forming of the definition of the ‘the status of the prosecutor’ at the legislative level in Ukraine.
Keywords	status of the prosecutor; legal status of the prosecutor; powers; rights and duties; guarantees; liability.
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