Justification and motivation of court decisions in the structure of criminal procedural evidence in the court of first instance

The article is devoted to the analysis of theoretical approaches, normative provisions and the practice of their application regarding the justification and motivation of court decisions in the process of criminal procedural proving in the court of first instance. The problem of the ratio of justification and motivation of court decisions in the context of national legislation and practice of the ECtHR is considered. It is emphasized that the justification and motivation of court decisions is a component of the court's use of evidence as an element of criminal procedural proving in the court of first instance. It is suggested that the justification and motivation of court decisions should be considered as a logical-intellectual and practical activity of the court, which is carried out within the scope of the proving process and consists in citing in the motivational part of the court decision references to legal norms, the set of evidence and arguments laid as its basis, proper and sufficient motives and grounds for its adoption, answers to significant arguments of the parties in the criminal proceedings, which collectively confirm the correctness of the adopted decision and ensure its persuasiveness. A proper definition of the category «rejection of prosecution evidence» is proposed as an activity of the court in the process of justifying and motivating an acquittal, which consists in the absolute exclusion of certain evidence provided by the prosecution from the process due to their non-compliance with the criteria of propriety, credibility and admissibility, in particular, obtaining them in violation of rights and human freedoms. In other words, rejection of evidence at the stage of making a court decision is a complete disregard for their informational value (content) and all conclusions of the prosecution based on this evidence. Under the category of «motives for disregarding certain evidence» it is proposed to understand the legal and factual explanations of the court reflected in the court decision (sentence or resolution) as to why exactly this evidence cannot be used as a basis for justifying the court decision. Key words: court decision, court of first instance, proving, use of evidence, rejection of evidence, justification of court decision, motivation of court decision.