Witness Privileges as the Foundation of their Immunity in Criminal Proceedings

Viacheslav Vapniarchuk1, Volodymyr Hryniuk2, Oleksandr Drozdov3, Inna Bespalko4 & Anna Strashok5

Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to investigate the essence of different types of witness immunity in criminal proceedings, to identify and analyse specific privileges that underlie these forms of witness immunity, and to justify the necessity of altering scientific perceptions of this institution within criminal procedural law and making changes to the current criminal procedural legislation to improve its normative regulation. The primary approach to addressing this issue involved categorising types of witness immunity and the associated privileges, presenting critical viewpoints concerning their interpretation, and proposing improvements to their regulatory framework. The paper proposes methods for enhancing and aligning criminal procedural legislation in the studied domain with European legal standards,
examines foreign practices of witness protection and provision of privileges during
criminal proceedings, and identifies general principles of criminal procedure that
are upheld through the functioning of witness immunity mechanisms.

Keywords: evidence, testimony, witness immunity, private interests, public interests.