The purpose of this article is to highlight the specific features of criminal proceedings for war crimes committed in the context of the armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine.

 The subject of the study is the identification of the category of “war crimes”; investigation of war crimes in the context of national legislation and case law.

The study was conducted using dialectical, hermeneutical, systemic and structural, comparative legal, logical and normative methods. The author comprehensively examines the problem of distinguishing war crimes in the criminal legislation of Ukraine; mechanisms for documenting and prosecuting war criminals; and specific features of criminal proceedings for war crimes within the framework of a special regime of pre-trial investigation and trial under martial law.

 The author formulates proposals on the need to amend and supplement the current criminal and criminal procedure legislation in this area.

Based on the study, the following specific features of war crimes investigation at the national level are highlighted: difficulties in classification due to the reference nature of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; reflection of contextual elements in procedural documents; special scope of proof due to the presence of contextual elements; the need to respect state secrets; difficulty in documenting due to security factors; specialization of units which investigate war crimes; consideration of the best practices of international protocols; a large number of non-state participants involved in documenting and the need to ensure the admissibility of the collected data in criminal proceedings; the participants with whom interaction is carried out in the investigation of war crimes; widespread use of OSINT; digitalization of factual data collection and preservation of evidence; participation of prisoners of war in criminal proceedings; diverse interpretation of the evaluation categories provided for in Article 615 of the CPC of Ukraine for deviating from the general procedure of criminal proceedings.

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