Peculiarities of recognition of a legal entity under public law as a victim in criminal proceedings

Abstract

The article, taking into account the inconsistency of doctrinal approaches regarding the legal entity — the victim, analyzes the issues regarding the correct definition of legal entities under public law as victims in criminal proceedings. At the same time, it is noted that the specifics of legal entities under public law significantly affect the specifics of identifying them as victims. The features of their interaction within the system of public authorities, the specifics of the distribution of powers, the allocation of subventions from the regional budget and other specific aspects of the flow of legal relations are indicated. The article takes into account the practice of providing expert opinions in the field of law within both pretrial investigation and court proceedings, and which allows us to assert that the above issues are not always resolved correctly.

It is pointed out that if the victim is a legal entity, then according to the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine, property damage must be directly caused to such a person by a criminal offense and this must be proven and substantiated within the framework of the pre-trial investigation. However, this approach to legal entities that can acquire the procedural status of a victim is relatively new and is enshrined in the Criminal Code of Ukraine of 2012. In this regard, damage can be considered as negative and unfavorable consequences that occur when property or personal non-property rights and benefits are restricted or violated, which belong directly to a specific victim. On the basis of the above, it can be stated that the damage is one of the grounds for the emergence of legal liability and at the same time it must be caused to a specific, clearly defined legal entity under public law. In view of this, in the case of causing corresponding damage to state interests in the person of individual legal entities, such legal entities under public law must be precisely defined.