COLLECTION AND LEGAL ADMISSIBILITY OF DIGITAL EVIDENCE OF WAR CRIMES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66556/2522-4549.3540.semchuk-yKeywords:
digital evidence, war crimes, admissibility of evidence, OSINT, Berkeley Protocol, International Criminal Court, authenticityAbstract
The article examines the legal foundations for the collection, recording and use of digital evidence of war crimes in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine. The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine of April 13, 2012, in particular Articles 84 and 99, regarding the regulation of electronic evidence are analyzed and the problems of their application to the documentation of war crimes are identified, including the absence of an autonomous definition of "digital evidence" and the underdeveloped procedures for their collection from non-traditional sources. The standards of admissibility of evidence provided by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of July 17, 1998, in particular Article 69, and the ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence are examined, and the specifics of the ICC approach to the admissibility of evidence in war crimes cases are determined. The Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations of 2022 is considered as a methodological standard for the collection and verification of digital evidence, including requirements for ensuring the chain of custody and file hashing. The legal aspects of using open source intelligence data (OSINT), satellite imagery, social media video recordings and geolocation data as evidence of war crimes are analyzed. The problems of ensuring the authenticity of digital evidence in the context of the spread of deepfake technologies are identified, and the necessity of forming a comprehensive legal mechanism for the collection, preservation and submission of digital evidence to international and national judicial bodies is substantiated. The practice of international cooperation in documenting war crimes is examined, in particular the activities of the Joint Investigation Team coordinated by Eurojust. Proposals for improving the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding the regulation of digital evidence are formulated.References
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