International Standards of Criminal Proceedings in The Investigation of Offences Involving Driving A Person to Suicide and Inducing A Person to Commit Suicide
Abstract
The article examines international standards of criminal procedure applicable to the investigation of offences involving driving a person to suicide and inducing a person to commit suicide. It considers the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Convention against Torture, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Minnesota Protocol and the Istanbul Protocol, as well as the legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the State’s positive obligations to protect the right to life and ensure effective investigations. Particular attention is paid to the requirements of independence, promptness, thoroughness and objectivity in investigations, the protection of vulnerable persons, the safeguarding of family members’ procedural rights, and the preservation and assessment of digital evidence. Based on a comparative legal and systematic analysis, the article substantiates the need to improve the criminal procedural legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, inter-agency cooperation mechanisms and expert practice. It proposes approaches to the legal regulation of the examination of the circumstances of death where uncertainty exists as to its causes or possible external influence, as well as an original international legal test for assessing the State’s compliance with its substantive and procedural obligations in the field of protecting the right to life.
Keywords
Downloads
References
- Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan https://lex.uz/docs/111457#111470
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights https://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/pactpol.shtml
- Resolution №127-I of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 31 August 1995 https://lex.uz/docs/2639570
- Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan №518 of 6 February 2019, On International Treaties of the Republic of Uzbekistan https://lex.uz/docs/4193763
- United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death 2016, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/MinnesotaProtocol.pdf
- Council of Europe, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Rome, 4 November 1950 https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/convention_ENG
- European Court of Human Rights, Keenan v. the United Kingdom, Application №27229/95, 2001. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-59365
- European Court of Human Rights, Renolde v. France, Application №5608/05, Judgment of 16 October 2008. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-88972
- European Court of Human Rights, Fernandes de Oliveira v. Portugal, Application №78103/14, 31 January 2019. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-189426
- United Nations, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 10 December 1984 https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/247990/files/A%28092%29_IN4-EN.pdf
- OHCHR, Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 2022. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/2022-06-29/Istanbul-Protocol_Rev2_EN.pdf
- United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989 https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text
- World Health Organization, Suicide worldwide in 2021: Global Health Estimates, 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240110069
- Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 25 (2021) on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3906061?v=pdf