Introduction: The use of modern advances in medicine to investigate crimes has caused a number of problems that require scientific reflection. In particular, today there are quite acute questions: medical intervention without the person’s consent; forced sampling of human biological materials; clinical methods, the use of which in the biological samples taking will not be regarded as violation of international standards of human rights protection; the correlation of the need for the formation of DNA profile databases and the right of the person to non-disclosure of medical information.
The aim: The aim of this work is to identify and analyze the key points of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the ECHR) regarding the peculiarities
of retention and use of human biological material samples in the investigation of crimes, and the retention of such materials after the completion of the investigation and trial.
Materials and methods: In the preparation of the article, scientific works, the provisions of international normative acts regulating the use of human biological materials
as well as the practice of the ECHR concerning the use of human biological materials in the investigation of crimes were used (8 decisions were analyzed in which the ECHR
concerned the use of biological samples or related issues). In the research process to achieve the goal, a complex of general scientific and special methods of cognition was used, in particular, the comparative legal method, the system and structural method, the method of generalization, the method of analysis and synthesis, etc.
Review: The positions of the ECHR concerning the following were distinguished and generalized: a) the criteria for the permissibility of compulsory medical intervention for
taking of human biological material within the framework of the crime investigation; b) the possibilities of spreading the right not to incriminate oneself on the compulsory
taking of human biological materials samples; c) the retention features of cell samples and DNA information in the context of respect for the right to non-interference in the
person’s private life.
Conclusions: Obtaining and using the human material for the investigation of crimes are not a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter – the
Convention), subject to the requirements stated in the practice of the ECHR.