Is it necessary to regulate international search in the Criminal Procedure Code, - the position of the UNBA Committee

The current Criminal Procedure Code already contains the grounds and procedure for putting a person who is a party to criminal proceedings on the wanted list. Additional regulation of putting a person on the international wanted list has no practical basis.

This conclusion was reached by the UNBA Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure following the analysis of the Draft Law of 29.04.2024 No. 11223 «On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and Other Legislative Acts of Ukraine on International Cooperation in Criminal Proceedings» (Reg. No. 11223).

The document contains a number of amendments, in particular, to Article 281 of the CPC, which regulates the search for a suspect. The authors of the legislative initiative propose to supplement it with a provision stating that if there are sufficient grounds to believe that a person has left and/or is outside Ukraine, the investigator or prosecutor shall put such a suspect on the international wanted list.

The UNBA noted that the concept of «international wanted» is enshrined in Article 193(6) of the CPC. An investigating judge or court considers a request for a preventive measure in the form of detention and may impose such a measure in the absence of the suspect or accused if the prosecutor proves the existence of the grounds provided for in Article 177 of the CPC, as well as the existence of sufficient grounds to believe that the suspect or accused has left and/or is in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, the territory of a state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an aggressor state, and/or is on the international wanted list.

In order to establish the whereabouts of a wanted person, the bodies of the national central bureau of Interpol may initiate the issue of entering a person into the wanted person database and assigning him/her the appropriate card color (i.e., actions to be taken in relation to this person in case of establishing his/her whereabouts). This is the basis for entering information about the wanted person into the international search system. However, the Interpol information system is not the only means of locating suspects, accused persons or missing persons, as these actions can also be carried out within the framework of concluded conventions and international treaties on mutual assistance in criminal matters.

International law does not define a special procedure for putting a person on the international wanted list, as criminal proceedings are subject to national legal regulation.

The international wanted list is a type of search enshrined in Article 281(1) of the CPC. And if during the pre-trial investigation the suspect's whereabouts are unknown or he/she has left and/or is in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine or outside Ukraine and does not appear without good reason at the summons of the investigator, prosecutor, provided that he/she has been duly notified of such summons, the investigator, prosecutor shall put such suspect on the wanted list.

Thus, the moment a person is put on the international wanted list is linked to the moment a relevant resolution is adopted, which is already being implemented in accordance with international treaties and conventions - applying to INTERPOL and providing assistance in establishing the whereabouts of a person who is wanted or to a specific country party to the Convention to assist in a specific criminal proceeding, etc.

INTERPOL's Rules on the Processing of Data, adopted by Resolution AG-2011-RES07 of the General Assembly at its 80th session (Hanoi, 2011), provide for a mechanism and consolidation of all procedural issues from receiving a wanted notice to verifying the legality and cancellation of wanted information, as well as reviewing previously made decisions.

For more details on these and other comments and suggestions to the draft law, which were sent to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, please follow the link.