SECURITY OF COURT PROCEEDINGS THROUGH THE LENS OF EUROPEAN STANDARDS

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the institution of court proceedings security through the lens of European standards. The aim of the study is to reveal the procedural basis and procedures for ensuring security in court proceedings through the experience of EU Member States. The study employs the comparative legal method, the method of systematic analysis, and content analysis of normative legal acts to determine the essence of court proceedings security and the means of ensuring it. Particular attention is paid to the institutional aspect of witness protection in EU Member States, as well as the legal prerequisites for organizing witness protection programs at the national level. The activities of national witness protection programs are examined using the examples of Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries. The views of European legal scholars – Lawrence Lessig, Mark Weller, Kurt Ebert, John F. Manning, and others – on defining the concept of court proceedings security and its elements are analyzed. It is established that security in court proceedings should be considered in a broad and narrow sense: broadly, as a complex phenomenon including objects, threats, and subjects of security; narrowly, as a state of protection of criminal proceedings participants from unlawful influence. It is determined that witness protection is a resource-intensive government program used as a last resort to protect against threats in criminal cases related to serious crimes. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive comparative legal analysis of institutional mechanisms for ensuring court proceedings security in the context of European standards and their significance for improving domestic legislation. The practical significance of the results lies in the possibility of using the findings to improve the legal framework for the security of court proceedings participants in Ukraine.