CRIMINAL LAW PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO PERSONAL PRIVACY: CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article deals with topical issues of formation and development of criminal law protection of the right to personal privacy in the contemporary history of Ukraine, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. The author analyzes the Ukrainian historiography of the historical and legal aspect of this legal institution. It is clarified that much less attention has been paid to the contemporary history of criminal law protection of the right to privacy in Ukraine, despite the fact that this period of criminal legislation development synchronizes with the establishment of international legal standards in the understanding of respect for human’s personal privacy in various spheres of life. It is found that the degree of implementation of the right to personal privacy reveals the essential differences between totalitarian, authoritarian and rule-of-law states, and the level of the civil society development. The author identifies and analyzes the main stages of development of criminal law protection of personal privacy in Ukraine. The stage from 1917 to 1921 is characterized by the restoration of Ukrainian statehood and the enshrining of immunity guarantees only at the constitutional level, which were not to be implemented. The stage from 1922 to 1960 was a «step backward» in the issues of criminal law protection of the right to personal privacy, rejecting even the achievements of the previous nineteenth century. It was characterized by the declaration of the right to certain elements of personal privacy at the constitutional level. However, respect for them, as well as the creation of a proper mechanism for their implementation and protection, including through criminal law provisions, were actually desecrated by Soviet ideology. The stage from 1960 until the adoption of the current Criminal Code of Ukraine in 2001 is marked by the consolidation of criminal law provisions aimed at protecting certain aspects of private (personal, family) life and is characterized by the lack of scientific developments of the concept of human’s private life as such, and therefore the absence of regulation of any manifestations of privacy, and the mechanism of its proper protection. The stage from 2001 to the present is characterized by the introduction of provisions in the Criminal Code of Ukraine that place the basic principles of the right to privacy under the protection of criminal law. A diachronic comparison of Soviet and modern national legislation allows stating that Ukraine has made a significant step forward in the practical implementation of human rights and their protection by criminal law provisions.