CRIMINAL LAW COUNTERMEASURE OF COLLABORATION WITH THE ENEMY ACCORDING TO THE CRIMINAL LEGISLATION OF UKRAINE AND EUROPEAN STATES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article examines the methods used in the criminal legislation of Ukraine and European countries to regulate liability for various forms of collaboration with the enemy, compares these approaches, identifies their advantages and disadvantages, and develops proposals on this basis that can be used by domestic parliamentarians in the future to improve the relevant legal norms.

In the process of conducting the research, philosophical, general scientific and specific scientific methods were used, in particular, comparative legal, dialectical, hermeneutic, system-structural analysis, formal-logical, historical, statistical, and modeling.

The author expressed the opinion that collaborationism should be considered as a separate form of treason with a milder and more specific punishment compared to other types of treason. This will allow not only to differentiate criminal liability, but also to take into account the belated legislative resolution of this issue, ensuring the retroactive effect of the criminal law norm.

The results of the study prove the fallacy of the approach used in the current Criminal Code of Ukraine, when, firstly, there are three separate norms (Articles 111, 111-1 and 111-2) devoted to the regulation of liability for various forms of cooperation with the enemy, and secondly, under at least two separate norms (on high treason and aiding an aggressor state) with significantly different sanctions in severity, virtually any behavior committed with the aim of causing harm to Ukraine can be qualified. Taking this into account, a conclusion is made about the groundlessness of the addition to the Criminal Code of Ukraine of Article 111-2 and the need to exclude it from it as soon as possible. Recommendations have also been developed to improve the norms on high treason and collaborative activities, which take into account the positive experience of European states in the relevant field. At the end of the study, promising areas of scientific research in the relevant field are identified.