Issues of prosecutor’s ensuring of legality of conducting an inspection of a dead body in connection with exhumation

The article examines the problems of ensuring legality during the inspection of a body in connection with exhumation, which is a type of investigative (detective) action carried out on the basis of a prosecutor’s ruling. The author emphasises that this issue is becoming particularly relevant in the context of increasing demands on the quality of procedural prosecutor’s supervision during pre-trial investigations. A body inspection involving exhumation is one of the most sensitive and complex investigative (detective) actions, as it entails interference with a person’s posthumous inviolability, affects the ethical, religious, and cultural beliefs of the relatives of the deceased, and may also generate significant public resonance. Under such conditions, the question of the prosecutor’s adherence to high standards of legality, justification, and proportionality when deciding to conduct this procedure becomes especially important. At the same time, an analysis of judicial practice reveals a number of systemic problems related to improper preparation of prosecutorial rulings, insufficient justification for the necessity of exhumation, disregard for expert conclusions, or premature initiation of this investigative (detective) action. Such shortcomings create risks that the obtained evidence may be deemed inadmissible, which can significantly affect the outcome of court proceedings and the overall effectiveness of criminal justice. Moreover, current legislation does not contain clear criteria defining the limits of prosecutorial discretion when deciding on exhumation, nor does it provide mechanisms for considering the position of the relatives of the deceased, which gives rise to additional legal and ethical conflicts. In these circumstances, scientific reflection on the role of the prosecutor as a guarantor of legality and human rights during exhumation, as well as the development of practical recommendations for improving the quality of procedural decisions, becomes particularly important. The article analyses the forms of exercising prosecutorial supervisory powers when deciding on exhumation and during its execution, summarises judicial practice regarding appeals against prosecutorial refusals to conduct this investigative action, identifies typical problems in reasoning, and formulates proposals for improving prosecutorial practice in substantiating rulings to conduct a body inspection in connection with exhumation.