Involvement of foreign judicial experts in criminal proceedings in the order of international cooperation

The article is devoted to the analysis of the norms of the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine and other normative legal acts on the issues of forensic expert activity, which regulate the procedural mechanism of involving experts from other states who possess special knowledge and skills necessary to provide substantiated and objective written conclusions during pretrial investigation and trial. Since the introduction of martial law in Ukraine in February 2022, the country has faced an urgent need to conduct an excessive number of forensic examinations in criminal proceedings related, in particular, to the identification of unidentified bodies and human remains. The scale of the tragedy required the involvement of foreign experts to conduct relevant research related to the development of DNA profiles of the victims and their relatives. The article states that international cooperation during criminal proceedings includes, in addition to the fulfillment of requests for investigative (search) actions on the territory of other states in order to obtain evidence, the creation of joint investigative teams for the investigation of crimes, as well as the use of special knowledge in the form of forensic examinations. It is concluded that the involvement of foreign experts in criminal proceedings in Ukraine in the order of international cooperation is provided for by the provisions of normative legal acts of a national nature, albeit in a rather general form. However, the procedural mechanism of involving experts and the order of international cooperation clearly need to be refined. Based on the results of the analysis, the actual mechanisms for involving foreign experts in criminal proceedings, which are provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine «On Forensic Expertise», as well as existing gaps in the legislative regulation in this area, have been determined. Judicial practice also points to the possibility of involving specialists from other states for joint forensic examinations in criminal proceedings.