Негласні слідчі (розшукові) дії як засоби доказування в кримінальному провадженні

It has been emphasized that during the investigation of criminal offenses, pre-trial investigation bodies face an important task, which is to collect a sufficient, reliable, admissible and appropriate evidentiary base in order to ensure the effectiveness of criminal proceedings, their speed, impartiality and completeness. The need to identify the essential features that characterize covert investigative (search) actions as an integral element of the process of proving in criminal proceedings has been substantiated. It has been proved that procedural actions are means of proof, because evidence is not so much a means of proof as the result of the specified activity, with the help of which it is possible not only to establish, but also to confirm the circumstances that are subject to proof and are important for criminal proceedings. It has been found out that covert investigative (search) actions are means of proof in criminal proceedings, which are carried out: 1) by an appropriate subject; 2) on the grounds and in the manner determined by the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine; 3) with observance of human rights and freedoms; 4) in order to obtain factual data about the circumstances that are subject to proof and are important for the criminal proceedings, the reliability or unreliability, the possibility or impossibility of using other evidence. The features of covert investigative (search) actions have been identified and characterized: restrictive, exceptional and confidential nature; scope of application (criminal procedural activity); regulation (carried out exclusively on the grounds and in the manner determined by criminal procedural legislation); orientation (in relation to the suspect and another person in criminal proceedings for criminal offenses provided for in Part 2 of Article 246 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine); procedural form of recording. It has been emphasized that the decision to conduct covert investigative (search) actions, as well as their actual conduct, is carried out by authorized entities. It has been emphasized that in order for all information obtained as a result of secret investigative (search) actions to be recognized as evidence, they must be characterized by such characteristics as relevance, admissibility, reliability, and sufficiency.