Formation and Development of Legal Regulation of the Application of Video Technologies in Criminal Proceedings

Abstract

The article considers the process of formation of legal regulation of the use of video technologies in criminal proceedings. The main stages in the development of legal regulation of the use of video technologies in the field of criminal justice have been studied. It is noted that in the 90s of the last century and at the beginning of the 21st century, videoconferencing was mentioned mainly in the context of combating international crime as a way of procedural counteraction to transnational crimes, as well as a means of protecting witnesses who are in danger.

Analyzed the main international treaties in the field of criminal justice for Ukraine. These include: Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between Member States of the European Union (2000). This Convention has become one of the first legal acts that separately regulates the relationship of states to provide mutual legal assistance using video technologies, in particular videoconferencing, establishes the procedure for the exchange of electronic evidence, determines the procedure for using videoconferencing, and also indicating that this technology should be provided with appropriate international instruments, including the European Convention of 1950; the Organized Crime Convention (2000), which considers videoconferencing as a means of protecting witnesses and victims; Second Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (2001), which allows interrogation by videoconference not only of witnesses, but also of experts and defendants; United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003).

It has been determined that international acts ratified by Ukraine regulate in sufficient detail the use of two video technologies – videoconferencing and video recordings of court sessions. By analogy, this adjustment can be applied to web conferences. This is due to the fact that the task of the bodies of interstate interaction, first of all, is to establish communication between states in order to coordinate the investigation of cross-border crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Attention is focused on the impossibility of considering the issue of legal regulation of the use of video technologies without analyzing the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. In this regard, it is determined that: firstly, the European Court considers that such a form of participation of a person in the judicial process as a video link is not unacceptable in accordance with the concept of a fair and public hearing; secondly, the use of video technologies in criminal proceedings should be accompanied by the provision of appropriate procedural guarantees to the participants in the proceedings; thirdly, participation in a court session by video technology should not put any of the parties in an unequal position with a party present at the session in person.

It has been established that international norms should be a guideline in matters of guarantees for the use of video technologies. They constitute a solid basis for the protection of individual rights in criminal proceedings, which should basically be implemented in national legislation and extended to all cases of using video technologies, and not only to cases of interaction within the framework of international cooperation and not only to videoconferencing technologies, conferences and video recordings of court hearings.