Конституційно-правовий статус військового омбудсмана: доктринальні дослідження

The article provides a comprehensive constitutional and legal analysis of the legal status of the military ombudsman as a newly established specialized subject of parliamentary control in the field of protection of servicemen’s rights. The study focuses on clarifying the legal nature of this institution, its place within the system of democratic civilian control over the security and defense sector, and its correlation with the classical model of the parliamentary ombudsman. The provisions of special legislation defining the tasks, powers, guarantees of independence and forms of activity of the military ombudsman are examined, as well as problematic aspects of the normative consolidation of its competence. Special attention is given to the review of doctrinal approaches of Ukrainian scholars to defining the content of the legal status of the military ombudsman, particularly with regard to the principles of independence, institutional autonomy, access to information, and limits of interference in military administration. The positions of researchers concerning the legal nature of the acts of response issued by the military ombudsman and their actual binding force are analyzed. The works of foreign scholars devoted to parliamentary commissioners in the military sphere are also examined, which makes it possible to identify common features and distinctions of the national model in a comparative legal perspective. The article further outlines academic approaches to the protection of servicemen’s rights, including issues related to the safeguarding of personal non-property rights that acquire particular significance under martial law. The necessity of further theoretical elaboration of the constitutional foundations of the military ombudsman’s activity and improvement of mechanisms for the implementation of its powers in order to enhance the effectiveness of guarantees of servicemen’s rights is substantiated. Additionally, it is argued that the development of a coherent doctrine of the constitutional and legal status of the military ombudsman requires a clear definition of its institutional autonomy, procedural guarantees of independence, and correlation with other subjects of parliamentary and judicial control. Emphasis is placed on the need to systematize scholarly approaches to understanding the functional purpose of this institution as a preventive mechanism for ensuring the rights of servicemen, operating outside judicial procedures while interacting with them. The importance of clarifying the scope of the military ombudsman’s discretion and the legal consequences of its recommendations is underlined as a prerequisite for strengthening the effectiveness of parliamentary control in the defense sphere.