The role of legal acts of the European Court of Human Rights in the Ukrainian criminal procedure

The article focuses on the role of legal acts of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the criminal process of Ukraine. It analyses national and international regulatory and legal acts as well as highlights the standpoints of scholars, which resulted in defining the need to use the term “the practice of the European Court of Human Rights” aiming to describe the legal acts of the ECHR as a source of Ukrainian criminal procedural law. The article gives ground to the statement that the court order issued by the ECHR which reveals the fact of Ukraine violating international obligations (norms of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) in court’s resolution of a case, that have entered into force, have a dualistic legal nature: on the one hand, it is a legal act, which provides grounds for reviewing the criminal case in exceptional circumstances, and on the other hand, is a part of the practice of the ECHR. The author makes a conclusion that the role of the practice of the ECHR in the Ukrainian criminal process is to ensure the rule of law and lawfulness in the criminal procedure by means of applying the practice of the ECHR as a source of law. The role of court orders issued by the ECHR, which establish the fact of Ukraine violating international obligations (norms of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) in court’s resolution of a case that have entered into force, is viewed in initiating a mechanism to ensure proper and effective protection of human rights and freedoms in the criminal case