CRIMES AGAINST THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF UKRAINE: THE PROBLEM OF QUALIFICATION OF CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF CRIMINAL OFFENSES (PART 4 OF ARTICLE 111-1 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF UKRAINE)

Abstract

The issue of qualification of crimes against the foundations of national security of Ukraine has always been in the focus of domestic scientists. The tragic events of February 24, 2022, forced lawyers to pay even more attention to this section of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Establishing Criminal Liability for Collaborative Activities" No. 2108-IX The Criminal Code of Ukraine was supplemented with a few norms, including Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The corresponding norm established criminal liability for collaborative activity. After the adoption of the aforementioned law, an ardent and reasonable discussion arose among scientists: isn't Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine an exceptionally special norm in relation to Article 111 (treason)? Many diverse and well-founded positions were expressed, but law enforcement practice still followed the path of recognizing Article 111-1 not as a special norm, but as a separate component of a criminal offense. However, such a decision did not become a panacea, because on the contrary, it gave rise to another important question: how to correctly qualify and distinguish between the criminal offenses of treason and collaborative activity? Therefore, the purpose of the work is to carry out a comprehensive analysis of law enforcement practice regarding the question of qualification of an act, provided for in Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, to identify gaps in judicial practice and to propose own methods of distinguishing qualifications. The novelty of the scientific article consists in a meaningful, narrowly directed study of specific parts of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, through the prism of judicial practice, and not a general analysis of the norm as such. The following methods were used during the research. The method of analysis and synthesis was used during the analysis of legislation and court practice to formulate conclusions and formulate research issues. The dialectical method came in handy during the comprehensive examination of collaborative activities, in the form provided for in Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in its systemic connection with law enforcement practice, the significance of the mentioned illegal actions in the context of European integration for society as a whole. The logical-legal method was used to analyze the practice of courts of first instance and appeals. Among the conclusions, the following should be highlighted. 1) Imperfect definition of the concept of "conducting economic activity" 2) Error in delineating the concepts of "economic activity" and "occupation of a position related to the performance of organizational-managerial or administrative-economic functions" Own proposals have been made to overcome the relevant criminal law problem. An analysis of the concepts of "interaction with the aggressor state" was made and one's own opinions were expressed regarding the subject composition of the aggressor state.