[MEDICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS IN PROOF OF RAPES]

The purpose of the study is to analyze new edition of the article 152 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine «Rape», which was adopted with the aim of implementing the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The analysis was carried out in terms of the possibility of implementing legal definitions in evidence, taking into account the fundamental medical scientific provisions related to sexual relations. The authors, taking into account the study of more than 100 sentences handed down by the courts of Ukraine in 2010-2018 in criminal cases of rape from the point of view of using medical knowledge in evidence, found a significant change in the objective side of rape, which affected the subject of evidence in criminal proceedings. Now rape is defined as committing acts of a sexual nature associated with vaginal, anal or oral penetration into the body of another person using the genitals or any other object, without the voluntary consent of the victim. A significant change in the rape modus operandi leads to a number of problematic issues in the practical application of these provisions by law enforcement agencies and courts. These issues can be solved, according to the authors' opinion, only by taking into consideration medical and legal aspects of rape. The medical aspect of rape is very important because the concept of rape is legal, but its interpretation is based on the use of medical concepts. The concept of "committing acts of a sexual nature associated with vaginal, anal or oral penetration into the body of another person using the genitals or any other object" is analyzed taking into account the existing and well-established in Forensic Medicine notions of sexual intercourse. The legal aspect of rape is not only to give a legal interpretation of the medical facts of committing sexual acts, but also to establish the absence of the voluntary consent of the victim. The problem of false statements about rape is analyzed, possible indicators of such statements are identified. This problem is quite topical in many countries with a similar interpretation of rape. It is concluded that the medical and legal aspects of rape are closely interrelated, since mechanism of this crime is based on physiological sexual act that is subject to legal assessment.