Theoretical legal analysis of abuse of power or official authority by a military official in martial law or combat situation: Key aspects

The relevance of this study is conditioned by the increasing significance of legal mechanisms in ensuring law and order, discipline, and responsibility of military leadership under martial law and combat situation. The purpose of this study was to theoretically investigate the key aspects affecting the qualification and investigation of criminal offences under Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and to identify the problems and shortcomings related to the application of current legislation in proving the guilt of the perpetrator of such an offence. The methodological toolkit included a set of general scientific and special methods of legal analysis. The legal method was employed to analyse current legislation, the historical legal method – to investigate the evolution of legal provisions, the comparative legal method – to compare various approaches to the application of national legislation in practice, etc. This analysis was aimed at determining the place of the criminal offence under study in the system of forensic classification of military criminal offences. The study identified the elements determining the specifics of their investigation and providing them with a forensic characterisation to develop effective methods for investigating abuse of power or authority by military personnel. Based on the findings, the study provided a theoretical legal characterisation of the subject of the offence under study, which is a military officer. The study analysed such legal categories as special period, martial law, and combat situation. The specifics of abuse of power and official authority in the military sphere were identified. The study described the key aspects of military subordination and clarified the concepts of a military commander and a military superior. The study proposed to supplement the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Military Duty and Military Service” in the part relating to the category of “military official” to ensure harmonisation of legislative provisions governing legal relations in the military sphere with criminal law provisions prescribing liability for offences against the established procedure for military service