Provision of Legal Assistance to Witness in Criminal Proceedings: Specifics and Problematic Issues
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32353/khrife.1.2025.05Keywords:
criminal proceedings; lawyer; legal aid; witness; right to defense; legal status.Abstract
This article purpose is to clarify specifics of determining legal status of a lawyer involved in providing legal assistance to a witness in criminal proceedings, to outline the problematic issues of his practical activity. General scientific methods were applied (analysis and synthesis, system analysis, logical-structural, generalization, comparative law one, etc.). It was found that legal status of lawyer involved in providing legal assistance to a witness remains undefined by law to this day, as is the legal status of defense attorney and representative of a person in criminal proceedings that creates basis for scientific controversy, in particular regarding the issue of defining powers of lawyer during practical activity. It was found that scientists define such activities and the powers of a lawyer differently.
Under legislation of Ukraine, lawyer engaged to provide legal assistance to a witness does not provide either protection or representation, so this form of activity should be understood as another type of advocacy: lawyer does not acquire a derivative procedural status from the witness, that is, does not have his rights. At the same time, the lawyer prevents the violation of the witness’s rights, is a guarantor of inadmissibility of arbitrariness or abuse of authority by representatives of security forces, ensures realization of the witness’s procedural interests, his right to freedom from self-incrimination, preventing prosecution of knowingly innocent person and application of methods of psychological pressure, falsification or fabrication of individual information, things and documents, etc. Thus, the engaged lawyer contributes to implementation of many tasks, but his basic function is to ensure protection of witness’s procedural interests and the realization of his rights. It is substantiated that involved lawyer has rights based on the general principles of criminal proceedings and guarantees that apply to him as a participant in the procedural action, as well as the powers guaranteed to him by the Law of Ukraine: On the Bar and Legal Practice. Despite supporting position on normative consolidation of the legal status of a lawyer involved in providing legal assistance to a witness, expediency of introducing such an entity as a legal consultant to the witness (legal attorney / procedural legal advisor) into criminal proceedings is refuted, since this contradicts constitutional rights.
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