Criminal liability for crimes related to encroachment on the activities of state and public figures in Ukraine

The article focuses on the issues of criminal liability for offenses related to encroachment on the activities of state and public figures in Ukraine. The scientific review demonstrates that the science of criminal law has not paid sufficient attention to a comprehensive study of liability for such offenses. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine the forms and content of criminal liability for such offenses, their regulatory reflection, and to identify the problems of their application in practice. The author emphasizes that effective criminal law protection of the activities of these persons should be based on a combination of criminalization and penalization, where the availability of relevant provisions in the law is only the initial stage. The article examines various types of criminal offenses, from misdemeanors to especially serious crimes, which are, in particular, provided for in Articles 112, 163, 344, 346, 351, 351-1, 351-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and analyzes the sanctions provided for these offenses. The analysis of these sanctions shows a fairly wide range of types of punishment, the availability of alternatives for individualization and adequacy of criminal law impact, and a combination of basic and additional types of punishment. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that there is no system and no coordination of vertical and horizontal links of the analyzed criminal offenses. The uniqueness of the article lies in its systematic approach to the analysis of criminal liability for offenses encroaching on the activities of state and public figures. The author focuses on the analysis of sanctions, studying the proportionality and sufficiency of punishments, systemic legal relations between criminal law provisions, and the practice of application of these provisions by Ukrainian courts. This article focuses on the problem of the low level of actual implementation of the existing criminal law provisions containing liability for encroachment on the activities of state and public figures. The author proposes to reconsider approaches to the formation of criminal legislation in general, excluding unjustified special rules and using other means of differentiating criminal liability. The article not only identifies the existing problems but also suggests ways to solve them, in particular, recommends clarifying legislative provisions and improving law enforcement mechanisms. The relevance of the study is stipulated by the need to increase the effectiveness of criminal prosecution in today’s difficult conditions, which is important for ensuring criminal law protection of activities of state and public figures in Ukraine.