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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.74.02.23
How to Cite:
Luhovyi, V., Drozd, V., Hahach, V., Oliinyk, S., & Frantovskyi, Y. (2024). Forensic aspect of international cooperation against
transnational criminal groups. Amazonia Investiga, 13(74), 276-285. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.74.02.23
Forensic aspect of international cooperation against transnational
criminal groups
Криміналістичний аспект міжнародного співробітництва в рамках боротьби з
транснаціональними організованими злочинними угрупованнями
Received: January 6, 2024 Accepted: February 27, 2024
Written by:
Luhovyi Viktor1
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7276-2994
Drozd Vitalii2
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9941-9624
Hahach Vitalii3
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7933-0712
Oliinyk Serhii4
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0466-0853
Frantovskyi Yevhenii5
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6966-3135
Abstract
The aim of the article is to study legal regulation
and determine the forensic aspect of international
cooperation during the investigation of crimes
committed by transnational organized criminal
groups. Methodology. The following methods
were used in the course of the research:
dialectical, method of theoretical analysis and
synthesis, systemic and structural, formal and
logical, comparative and legal method,
summarization. Research results. Attention is
focused on the fact that international cooperation
is a necessary condition for the investigation of
certain types of crimes committed by
transnational organized groups. The need for all
countries of the world to coordinate and improve
their legal basis for effective cooperation both in
the investigation of criminal offenses and in their
prevention is stressed. Practical meaning. It is
noted that there are two structural subdivisions in
the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of
Ukraine, which are entrusted with the
responsibility of coordinating international
cooperation with law enforcement agencies of
1
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Doctoral Student of the National Academy of Internal Affairs (Kyiv, Ukraine).
2
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Doctoral Student of the Scientific Institute of Public Law (Kyiv, Ukraine).
3
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Doctoral Student of the Scientific Institute of Public Law (Kyiv, Ukraine).
4
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Senior Research Fellow of the Scientific Institute of Public Law (Kyiv, Ukraine).
5
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Senior Research Fellow of the Scientific Institute of Public Law (Kyiv, Ukraine).
Luhovyi, V., Drozd, V., Hahach, V., Oliinyk, S., Frantovskyi, Y. / Volume 13 - Issue 74: 276-285 / February, 2024
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other countries on issues of combating and
investigating criminal offenses.
Value/originality. Based on the analysis of the
cited works, the forms of international
cooperation during the investigation of offences
committed by transnational organized criminal
groups are determined.
Keywords: transnational organized criminal
group, offenses, crime, international cooperation,
investigation.
Introduction
Recently, crime has become international in
nature. Organized criminal groups are
increasingly crossing borders, creating analogues
of transnational companies engaged in criminal
activity. There is a tendency to include Ukrainian
organized crime in transnational criminal
structures. Therefore, criminal situation in
Ukraine has recently been characterized
extremely negatively. There is a fairly steady
trend towards changing the structure and nature
of crime. Its organization is being strengthened,
which requires the adoption of urgent legislative
and organizational management measures.
International cooperation is a necessary
condition for the investigation of certain types of
criminal offenses. Crimes committed by
transnational organized groups clearly fall under
this category, since these groups commit illegal
acts in various countries (drug trafficking, sex
tourism, terrorism, trade in weapons and
ammunition, cybercrime, etc.). All these crimes
are characterized by a large spread not only in
neighboring States, with which we share a
common border, but also within the countries
even on other continents. The commission of
criminal offenses of a certain category is
investigated and regulated by the legal
instruments of the respective countries, as well as
of international organizations and structures. In
view of the above, we need to investigate this
issue in connection with the specifics of our
research.
One of the main tasks to be solved by science in
the indicated direction is the actualization of
scientific and methodical support for the fight
against crime, increasing its effectiveness by
introducing the latest scientific research and best
practices into the activities of law enforcement
agencies. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on
the forensic aspect of this problem. This is
because of the forensic profile of organized crime
is generally grounded on the data of scientific
generalization, which can be laid as a basis for
the forensic understanding of the essence and
features of organized criminal activity, means,
methods and tactics to combat it.
Consequently, the purpose of this article is to
study legal regulation and determine the forensic
aspect of international cooperation during the
investigation of crimes committed by
transnational organized criminal groups.
Through this analysis, we seek to identify the
challenges and opportunities presented by
international cooperation in this area, as well as
propose recommendations to strengthen it and
improve its effectiveness. The results of this
study are expected to be useful to researchers,
legal professionals and law enforcement officials
working to combat transnational organized
crime.
Methodology
The methodological basis for the research is a
system of general scientific and special scientific
methods and approaches that provided an
objective analysis of the subject matter under
study. Taking into account the specifics of the
topic, the purpose and objectives of the article,
the following methods were used:
Dialectical method was applied to conduct a full
and comprehensive study of the international
cooperation when investigating crimes
committed by transnational organized groups.
The method of theoretical analysis and synthesis
(induction, deduction, comparison, analogy,
abstraction, classification) helped to examine
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scientific views on the problem of transnational
organized crime, as well as the forms of
international cooperation to combat it.
Systemic and structural method was used to
identify the structural subdivisions of the law
enforcement system of Ukraine entrusted with
the responsibility of coordinating international
cooperation with the relevant agencies of other
countries in matters of combating and
investigating criminal offenses.
Formal and logical method made it possible to
interpret and distinguish the main concepts of the
phenomenon under study.
With the help of comparative and legal method
the provisions of the international legal
instruments governing international cooperation
in combating and preventing organized crime, as
well as the rules of Ukrainian legislation on this
matter were examined.
Summarization method was helpful in
highlighting the forms of international
cooperation during the investigation of crimes
committed by transnational organized criminal
groups.
Therefore, the article uses general scientific and
special scientific methods that ensure the
reliability of the obtained results and
conclusions.
Literature review
Transnational crime is the object of research in a
number of branch legal sciences (in criminal law,
criminology, international law, etc.). The issues
of international cooperation in the direction of
combating and preventing transnational crime
have remained insufficiently studied for a long
time, and the focus on the issue began at the end
of the 20th century. This is primarily due to the
intensification of international relations between
the countries of the world, the intensification of
migration and globalization processes, which
contributed to the further transformation and
evolution of organized crime, associated with the
spread of its activities beyond the borders of
Ukraine.
The first publication related to the concept of
international crime dates to 1974 and was
presented in the work by Kale entitled
“International police communications” (1974),
where it is stressed that police mutual assistance
and cooperation play a vital role in providing
reliable means of communication for the police
forces of different countries. There is a need for
a universal international organization to be
available to the police forces of different
countries to prevent and uncover international
crime.
The concept of transnational crime appeared in
1982 and belongs to Lopez-Rey M., who used it
in the work “Crime, criminal justice, and
criminology: An inventory” (1982). It states that
the deficit of criminal justice and criminology
makes existing crime more successful and
feasible. According to the author, “criminology,
as well as criminal policy, “must understand”
that national, international and transnational
crime become more interconnected and to
effectively implement and «rescue» criminal
policy something radical should be done.
Skulysh and Hlushkov (2012) noted that
transnational organized crime should be
understood as a qualitatively new form of
national organized crime development, one of the
highest levels of criminal evolution, which actors
are persistent criminal organizations, whose
sphere of influence and activity in the form of
criminal business extends to several States, a
group of neighboring States, a region, a continent
or the world community. According to the
authors, there is no single model of transnational
organized crime in the world. The actors of this
type of crime, which include criminal
organizations, operate in different regions of the
world, have their own specific specialization, use
different methods, techniques, tactics of activity,
have different quantitative and ethnic
composition, etc., but they are united by a single
common goal – acquisition of extremely high
profit from engaging in criminal activity, which
can be combined with seemingly legitimate
activities.
A significant contribution to highlighting
problematic issues related to theoretical and
applied problems of combating organized crime
in European countries was made by Shostko
(2010). The author states that "the international
community does not have a unified approach to
the definition of the term "organized crime".
There are a lot of alternative approaches to this
issue, but there is no comprehensive theory that
reconciles different points of view regarding the
understanding of this concept. Conditionally, the
author divides all theoretical models into local, or
ethnic, hierarchical, entrepreneurial (with such a
variety as the bureaucratic-corporate model)". In
addition, she highlights essential criminological
features of organized crime.
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The research by Filippov (2019) is devoted to the
comprehensive study of criminological
principles of combating cross-border crimes,
where scientific problems related to overcoming
the fragmentation of scientific explanation,
phenomena in combating cross-border crime and
the development of modern conceptual
approaches to combating cross-border crime are
solved.
A national monographic study “Transnational
Crime: A Forensic Analysis” by Bilenchuk et al.
(2011) deserves special attention. In this work
the authors focus on the essence of the forensic
concept of "transnational crime", distinguish its
signs, characterize the methodology of its
investigation, outline the foundations of its
forensic characteristics, perform forensic
analysis of modern transnational organized
crime, as well as factors, properties, features and
trends of its development. The authors pay
special attention to the general characteristics of
organized criminal groups in the countries of the
European Union and organized criminal groups
of the CIS countries, as well as the peculiarities
of their criminal activities.
The monographic study by Zelinskaya
"International offences and international crime"
(2006), which is dedicated to countering
transnational organized crime, is also worthy of
note. This complex interdisciplinary study
thoroughly outlines the differences in the essence
of the concepts of "international crime",
"international offence" and "transnational
crime". The defining feature of this monograph
is presenting the concept of transnational
criminal law and the view on the issue of
combating transnational organized crime from
the perspective of international criminal law.
Besides, the work proposes the international
legal standards of criminalization of certain types
of transnational offenses, such as corruption,
laundering of proceeds of crime, human
trafficking, smuggling of migrants, illicit
manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms etc.
The author believes that "over time, the concept
of international crime evolves, changes, is filled
with new meaning, becomes transnational;
crimes under international law constitute only a
part of international crime, the second part of
which consists of crimes belonging to the
category of transnational".
In this study, cross-border crime is investigated
as an open social system that mediates a
destructive phenomenon, which in its
manifestation – statistical aggregation of crimes
committed in a given territory in a given period
of time – is relatively massive and historically
volatile, and whose parameters characterize the
dynamic balance of social institutions and
personal activity in cross-border relations.
All scientific publications, which are of
significant scientific development in the
investigation of the problem of international
cooperation in the prevention and counteraction
of transnational crime can be grouped according
to the following characteristics:
‒ studies devoted to issues of a general
theoretical nature, i.e. the concepts of
"crime" and "organized crime";
‒ research devoted to the concept of "ethnic
crime", "transnational crime", "transnational
organized crime", "international crime";
‒ works devoted to issues of international
cooperation in the field of transnational
crime prevention and counteraction
(including by the types of transnational
crimes).
Recognizing the above-mentioned achievements
in the study of this issue, it is worth noting that
the degree of development of issues of
international cooperation in countermeasures and
prevention transnational organized crime has not
yet been sufficiently explored. The object of
study by most scholars is combating specific
forms of transnational and cross-border crime;
however, comprehensive studies in the field of
international cooperation in the fight against
transnational crime have not been carried out yet.
The development of an effective mechanism of
international cooperation in fighting and
preventing transnational crime in Ukraine is
complicated by the relative novelty and
insufficient study of this socially dangerous
phenomenon, which creates obstacles to the
implementation of proven experience in the
activities of the relevant State institutions of
Ukraine.
Results and discussion
On a separate category of criminal offences
(namely, against morality), Yefimov (2021,
p. 147) expressed quite correct opinion that their
transnational character makes it possible for
them to be committed in different countries of the
world. "Sex tourism", human trafficking, child
pornography, the cult of cruelty – all these acts
“find” people willing to commit them in different
countries of the world. Therefore, Ukraine needs
to cooperate fruitfully with various foreign
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institutions in terms of both the investigation of
the specified category of acts and with regard to
the prevention of crime in general. After all,
under such conditions, international cooperation
in the field of law enforcement, the involvement
of the best specialists of domestic and foreign
structures in law enforcement activities, as well
as the exchange of experience between them are
mandatory requirements to prevent various
illegal manifestations. In other words, the
scientist directly pointed to the mandatory
international cooperation between different
countries, which we definitely support.
Matviychuk (2011, p. 270) states that the
existence and well-being of an individual today
depends on whether we will be able to adhere to
the principles of long-term development defined
by the international community. For this,
Ukraine should make great efforts and
demonstrate readiness for cooperation in such
areas as increasing international security,
rational, economical use, protection,
reproduction and improvement of global
common natural resources, solving energy
problems (maximum involvement of alternative
energy types, increasing reliability and safety
existing), protection of flora and fauna. The
initiatives of the public, legislative and executive
authorities come up against the lack of incentives
and executive discipline on the local level.
Besides, the solution to these problems is
negatively affected by the lack of perfect
legislative acts and mechanisms for the
implementation of existing ones. The time
demands that even the greatest conservatives
abandon the practice of maintaining social and
ecological stability through old approaches and
legal prescriptions and move more actively
toward the development and environmental
protection. Clearly, there are great differences
between the countries regarding the above-
mentioned issues, especially concerning the
profits, organizational traditions, management
experience, etc. Therefore, only the executive
and legislative powers of the countries (each in
their own way) can most effectively use the
positive international experience and make the
necessary changes in the legislation. That is, the
researcher suggests that all countries of the world
coordinate and improve their own legal
instruments for effective cooperation both
regarding the investigation of criminal offenses
and their prevention.
A separate group of scientists (Drizhchanyi,
Pavlychenko, & Umanskyi), having worked out
a number of legal acts relevant at the time of their
research (1998), expressed the following
opinion: “The Council of Europe in its activities
paid great attention to the creation of an effective
mechanism for providing international legal
assistance; in particular, a number of European
conventions on criminal matters were drafted and
opened for signature. Ukraine joined six of them,
which define the following types of international
legal assistance in criminal proceedings:
extradition of offenders;
providing assistance in criminal prosecution, in
particular, the transfer of items, documents
relevant to the proceedings, service of documents
and court orders on attendance of witnesses and
persons prosecuted;
transfer of proceedings in criminal cases;
transfer of convicted persons to serve their
sentence, etc.
With regard to the legal regulation of
international cooperation, for example, Par.
a), Art. 2 of the United Nations Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime (United
Nations Office On Drugs And Crime, 2004),
which was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine on February 04, 2004, formulated the
concept of an organized criminal group as a
structurally organized group consisting of three
or more persons that exists during a certain
period of time and acts in concert to commit one
or more serious crimes or crimes recognized as
such in accordance with this Convention, in order
to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or
other material benefit.
Besides, Part 1, Art. 5 of the said Convention
defines the criminalization of participation in an
organized criminal group, namely the main forms
of interaction of its members: leadership,
assistance, incitement, facilitation or giving
advice regarding a serious crime committed with
the participation of an organized criminal group.
Part 3, Art. 18 discloses that mutual legal
assistance under this article may be requested for
any of the following purposes: obtaining witness
statements or statements from individuals;
service of court documents; search and seizure;
inspection of objects and areas; provision of
information, physical evidence and expert
assessments; providing originals or certified
copies of relevant documents and materials,
including government, banking, financial,
corporate or commercial ones; identification or
tracing of proceeds of crime, property,
instrumentalities of crime or other objects for
evidentiary purposes; facilitating the voluntary
appearance of the persons concerned to the
bodies of the requesting Member State; provision
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of any other type of assistance that does not
contradict the domestic legislation of the
requested participating State. That is, Ukraine, as
a founding Member of the United Nations, can
and should provide any of the above measures.
At the same time, Clause 1, Art. 6 of the
Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal
Matters (Council of Europe, 1959) between the
Member States of the European Union, which,
unfortunately, has not yet been ratified by our
country, indicates the following provisions:
“Requests for mutual assistance and unplanned
exchanges of information referred to in Article 7
shall be made in writing or in any method
allowing for a written record under conditions
that allow the receiving member State to
establish its authenticity. Such requests shall be
made directly between the judicial authorities
vested with territorial jurisdiction to initiate and
execute them, and shall be returned through the
same channels, unless otherwise specified in this
Article”.
In this regard Burkal (2019, p. 246) correctly
points out that it is expedient to identify priority
areas of activity for preventing and countering
the legalization of illegal income guided by
international experience: strengthening control
over currency transactions, especially of an
international nature; improvement of cooperation
mechanisms of banks, law enforcement agencies
and specialized international institutions and
organizations; development of a system of
specialization and coordination of the activities
of the authorities in the formulation and
implementation of the strategy for combating
transnational economic crime; creation of new
mechanisms for monitoring and identification of
persons spotted in connection with transnational
organized criminal groups; development of the
legal framework for the interaction of domestic
law enforcement agencies with foreign ones, as
well as with the specialized international
organizations". That is, the author emphasizes
many possible measures that must be
implemented to increase the effectiveness of
cooperation between different States in the
context of counteraction and investigation of
criminal offenses committed by transnational
organized criminal groups.
We also share the position of the authors
(Chaplynskyi et al., 2023, p. 477), who indicate
that the implementation of the powers entrusted
to the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the
formulation of State policy on the problems of
international cooperation, as well as the control
over its implementation by the constituent
elements of the apparatus of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, is implemented by the
Department of International cooperation and
European integration of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs. Concerning the cooperation of
operational units to combat crime with
investigative bodies of foreign countries, it is
implemented by the Department of International
Police Cooperation of the National Police of
Ukraine. In other words, there are two structural
subdivisions, which are entrusted with the
responsibility of coordinating international
cooperation with the law enforcement agencies
of other countries on countermeasures and
investigations of criminal offenses in the system
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
In turn, in her dissertation study, Leshukova
(2004) worked out the relationship between the
terms "legal aid" and "cooperation in the fight
against crime" and defined legal assistance in
criminal cases as a form of cooperation between
the States in the fight against crime, which lies in
performing, on the basis of reciprocity, actions
permissible under national laws and international
agreements, which contribute to the detection of
crimes, their investigation and trial, as well as
ensuring the execution of sentences and other
decisions of judicial bodies. The author noted
that the legal basis for providing legal aid as one
of the elements of international cooperation in
criminal matters consists of: 1) international
intergovernmental agreements (bilateral and
multilateral): pacts, conventions, treaties,
agreements; 2) intergovernmental agreements on
specific issues related to cooperation in the fight
against crime; 3) interdepartmental contracts
(agreements) on the same issues. These
documents have common characteristics and
features, which allows them to be systematized
according to the form, name and actor of
conclusion of international agreements. Besides,
the legal basis for international cooperation in
criminal matters should also include national
legislation on the provision of international legal
assistance and unwritten norms (customs,
traditions) of international law (international
courtesy, reciprocity, etc.
Regarding the forms of international cooperation
in countering transnational organized crime, for
example, Sidorov and Zdorovko (2017, p. 66)
distinguish among them the following:
1) adoption of pre-agreed measures to establish
at the international legal level
criminalization of certain socially dangerous
acts (treaty-based criminalization of
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international crimes and crimes of an
international nature);
2) development and conclusion of international
agreements, adoption of other international
legal instruments as a legal basis for the
activity of States, international organizations
and their bodies in the field of fighting
crime;
3) adoption of documents governing the
exercise of powers by States within the
concluded international agreements, the
procedure for the implementation of
international justice, as well as the
cooperation of states in the fight against
crime;
4) creation and formation on a contractual and
other international legal basis of
international organizations and other bodies
performing their activities in the field of
combating crime;
5) cooperation regarding crime prevention that
are being prepared or committed, in
particular, by conducting, if necessary,
operational and investigative measures
(special investigations regarding the
terminology of international agreements);
6) provision of mutual legal assistance in the
field of criminal justice (extradition,
criminal prosecution at the request of foreign
States or transfer of jurisdiction, cooperation
with international criminal justice agencies);
7) the activities of international organizations
and bodies (bodies of international criminal
justice) on the administration of justice for
committed transnational crimes, the
implementation of criminal prosecution of
perpetrators.
Currently, one of the characteristic illegal acts
committed by transnational organized criminal
groups is cybercrime. For most of them,
V.V. Popko and E.V. Popko (2021, p. 279)
highlight the following features:
increased secrecy of the commission of the
crime, which is ensured by the specificity of the
network information space (developed
mechanisms of anonymity, complexity of the
infrastructure, etc.);
the transnational nature of network crimes, in
which the offender, the object of crime, the
victim may be located in the territories of
different states;
special preparation of criminals, intellectual
nature of criminal activity;
non-standard, complex, multifaceted and
frequently updated methods of committing
crimes and special means used;
the possibility of committing a crime in an
automated mode in several places at the same
time;
multi-episode nature of criminal acts with a large
number of victims;
lack of awareness among victims of criminal
influence;
the remote nature of criminal acts in the absence
of physical contact between the criminal and the
victim;
inability to prevent and suppress this type of
crime by ordinary means.
Cybercrime is the set of offences for which a
criminal prohibition is provided, which are
committed in cyberspace, where the main direct
objects of criminal encroachment are the
constitutional rights and freedoms of an
individual and a citizen, as well as social
relations in the spheres of computer information
and information technologies, economic activity,
State power, etc. Cybercrimes are directed
against the confidentiality, integrity and
availability of computer systems, networks and
computer data and their misuse. This is violation
of social relations in the sphere of safe creation,
storage, processing and transmission of computer
information protected by law, with the aim of
causing economic, political, moral, ideological,
cultural and other harm to the person, the State
and the world as a whole.
In light of the above, we consider it necessary to
cite the Yvonne and Majid, eds (2009, p. 10),
who noted that the changes caused by the Internet
cannot simply be quantified by studying
penetration rates and the number of users. The
authors pointed out that significant qualitative
changes have occurred in the short life of the
Internet that have changed the nature of online
interactions and activities. In particular, the
researchers determined that early users were
constrained by a combination of factors,
including limited computing power (especially in
the case of personal computers), limited
communication bandwidth (mainly using the
copper wire technology of existing
telecommunications networks designed for
telephony) and basic computer software. At the
moment, all of these restrictions are a thing of the
past, is developing tremendously.
Regarding the implementation of positive foreign
experience in crime prevention, Kolodiazhnyi
(2017, p. 204) suggests applying the following
aspects in domestic law-making and law-
enforcement practice:
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1) strengthening the effectiveness of the
preventive activities of law enforcement
agencies through the participation of citizens
in arresting criminals and offenders,
maintaining law and order, providing
information about committed crimes;
2) economic benefits of fiscal saving through
the use of free assistance of citizens in crime
prevention;
3) optimization of time, forces and resources of
police officers to focus their attention from
secondary to more critical operational law
enforcement issues;
4) deepening the interaction of various social
institutions and crime prevention actors;
5) increasing citizens’ trust in state authorities
in general and law enforcement agencies in
particular.
For his part, Burkal (2019, p. 212) offers the
following forms of international cooperation,
such as: extradition of criminals; mutual legal
assistance; transfer of criminal proceedings to
another country; transfer of convicts; cooperation
for the purpose of confiscation to deprive
traffickers of property acquired by criminal
means; interaction between law enforcement
agencies, including information exchange and
cooperation in conducting investigations; joint
investigations; cooperation in the use of special
investigative methods.
Tsymbal (2005, p. 16), having studied the current
legal acts on international cooperation and taking
into account the dynamic state of economic
relations development, as well as population
migration and the spread of transnational crime,
highlighted such forms as exchange of
information on violations of tax legislation by
legal entities and individuals on the territories of
Ukraine and beyond; provision of duly certified
copies of documents related to the taxation of
legal entities and individuals; exchange of
information about national tax systems, changes
and amendments to tax legislation; development
of methodological recommendations for
combating tax offenses; exchange of experience
regarding the creation and functioning of
information systems used in the practice of
investigating crimes in the field of taxation;
interaction on the implementation of measures
aimed at prevention, detection and investigation
of these crimes; conducting international
scientific and practical conferences and seminars
on combating tax offenses; implementation of
coordination on the issues that arose in the
process of cooperation.
Pashkovskyy (2003, pp. 10) emphasizes that
international cooperation is a consequence of the
following factors: it is activity provided for by
national criminal procedural legislation,
international legal instruments (treaties,
conventions, pacts, protocols, regulations,
agreements, etc.), signed by Ukraine, related to
the implementation of procedural actions to
establish a certain status for criminal proceedings
actors: collection, verification of evidence;
search and seizure of property; provision of
information about foreign and international law
and the practice of its application; ensuring the
protection and representation of the interests of
foreigners, foreign states and legal entities,
international organizations in criminal
proceedings.
We also consider the position of Chornous (2017,
p. 245) to be quite correct and logical, who, after
carefully working out the provisions of
international treaties and the Criminal Procedure
Code of Ukraine (Law of Ukraine No. 4651-VI,
2012), defined the following forms of
international cooperation:
1) international legal assistance (Articles 541
(Par. 1), 542, 551 – 560 of the Criminal
Procedure Code of Ukraine);
2) surrender of a person (extradition) (Article
541 (Par. 2), 573 – 575, 589 – 594 of the
Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine);
3) taking over criminal proceedings (Article
541 (Par. 3), 595 – 599 of the Criminal
Procedure Code of Ukraine.
Based on the analysis of the cited works, we
identified the following forms of international
cooperation during the investigation of crimes
committed by transnational organized criminal
groups:
‒ mutual exchange of information on the
activities of transnational organized criminal
groups and their members;
‒ mutual legal assistance during the
investigation and trial of materials on crimes
committed by transnational organized
criminal groups, through the implementation
of separate procedural actions;
‒ extradition of offenders to an international
body or State for criminal prosecution;
‒ prevention of offences covered by relevant
treaties between States;
‒ joint participation in training of law
enforcement officials, as well as the
provision of relevant scientific and technical
means and material and technical assistance
to the specified bodies.
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Conclusions
Summing up, we note that international
cooperation is a necessary condition for the
investigation of certain types of crimes
committed by transnational organized groups.
Currently, the basis of the legal regulation of the
mentioned activity is the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime, which was ratified by the Verkhovna
Rada of Ukraine on February 4, 2004, and the
Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal
Matters between the Member States of the
European Union, adopted on May 29, 2000.
Based on the analysis of the cited works, the
following forms of international cooperation
were determined during the investigation of
crimes committed by transnational organized
criminal groups: mutual exchange of information
on the activities of transnational organized
criminal groups and their participants; mutual
legal assistance during the investigation and trial
of materials on crimes committed by
transnational organized criminal groups through
the implementation of separate procedural
actions; extradition of offenders to an
international body or state for criminal
prosecution; prevention of crimes for which
relevant agreements have been concluded
between states; joint participation in the training
of authorized persons of law enforcement
agencies, as well as the provision of relevant
scientific and technical means and material and
technical assistance to the specified bodies.
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