THE CONCEPT OF «OBJECTIVE IMPOSSIBILITY» UNDER MARTIAL LAW IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 615 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE OF UKRAINE AND THE REASONABLE LIMITS OF ITS APPLICATION

Abstract

Ways are proposed to improve the provisions of Article 615 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine by adding a note containing a list of typical cases that should be considered an objective impossibility of applying the standard norms of the codified law. The concept of «objective impossibility» in legal and scientific literature is studied, as well as its meaning in the context of the provisions of Article 615 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine. The introduction of martial law in Ukraine in connection with the deployment of full-scale military aggression determined the process of changes in many branches of law, in particular the criminal procedural sphere. It should be noted that it is quite sensitive to such global challenges of socio-political life in the country, since any military aggression poses a danger to the life and health of people and in such a case it is sometimes impossible to conduct a pre-trial investigation in accordance with existing norms. In view of this, there is a need to modify certain norms and apply them differently. At the same time, the procedure for observing the rights and freedoms of man and citizen in accordance with international documents ratified by Ukraine is no less important. In such a quintessence, the legislator in the conditions of martial law had to change certain provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the CPC of Ukraine) and create a norm that would contain algorithms for actions in conditions of objective impossibility of applying standard procedures or meeting deadlines, while excluding the fact of arbitrary violation of rights and freedoms. It is obvious that martial law by default means an inevitable restriction of human rights and freedoms, but in conditions of their deficiency within the framework of the criminal process, such a violation should not occur. The concept of «objective impossibility» established in Article 615 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine is quite general and subjective; the legislator himself did not formulate a note explaining what exactly should be considered objective impossibility in martial law and what may become a basis for changing procedures and extending generally defined deadlines.