Almanac of law. Issue 15 (2024), pages 613–619.

DOI: 10.33663/2524-017X-2024-15-613-619

Stetsiuk S. S.
Problems of Application by the Courts of Ukraine of Article 431 «Fulfilment of the Duty to Protect the Motherland, Independence and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine» of the Criminal Code of U

The article highlights the problem of application of Article 431 «Fulfilment of the duty to protect the Motherland, Independence and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine» of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It is stated that there is no uniform approach in the court practice as to when the actions of Ukrainian citizens are considered to be aimed at repulsing and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation or the aggression of another country. When it comes to establishing the signs of this circumstance, which excludes the criminal unlawfulness of an act, in the case of accusing a citizen of Ukraine of committing a criminal offence under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the courts take into account whether the accused was given firearms by representatives of the authorities or territorial defence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and what function the person performed at the time or in the process of committing the unlawful acts. It is established that the courts mostly apply Article 431 of the CC not independently, but simultaneously with Article 39 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, determining first of all the signs of extreme necessity in the actions of a person, which, in the opinion of the courts, are expressed in the special signs provided for in Article 431 of this Code. The author believes that this approach is erroneous, since the extreme necessity and fulfilment of the duty to protect the Motherland, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine are independent circumstances which exclude criminal unlawfulness of an act and are subject to separate application. It is stated that if the signs provided for in Article 431 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine are established in the actions of a person, the criminal proceedings are subject to closure due to the absence of signs of the criminal offence of which he/she was accused, with the court delivering an acquittal. At the same time, the closure of criminal proceedings at the stage of preparatory court proceedings without the court establishing the actual circumstances in this case is unreasonable.

Key words: circumstance excluding the criminal unlawfulness of an act, fulfilment of the duty to protect the Motherland, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, extreme necessity, criminal offence, deterrence of armed aggression of the Russian Federation, repulsion of armed aggression of the Russian Federation, criminal liability, sentence, court, plea of not guilty, closure of criminal proceedings.

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Serhiy Serhiyovych Stetsyuk,
Postgraduate Student at the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law, NASU
ORCID: 0009-0006-7131-8202