Russia is expected To change criminal procedure legislation in the part concerning procedure of appointment of judicial examination in the criminal process. This is what we told Anatoliy Fursov, managing partner of the Moscow bar Association “Dobrovitski and partners.”
“the Final verdict often depends on conclusions of expert opinion, therefore, underestimate the importance of this procedure, it is impossible, – says Anatoly. In the modern procedure uses a huge amount of expertise from the well-known DNA, to study, for example, accounting records. And each can form the basis of a court decision. Not by chance in the professional environment of the verdict of the expert called the “scientific verdict”. According To Art. 187 code of civil procedure of the Russian Federation, the examination is assessed by the court along with other evidence and is not for the court predetermined force. In fact, I, as a practicing lawyer, according to that expert opinion often outweighs all other evidence”. That is: on whose side expertise – that’s right.
However, the problem is that the prosecution and defense are now at a disadvantage: examination of assigned only at the initiative of the investigation and trial, and the lawyer is entitled only to involve “expert” who does not conduct the examination of physical evidence and not draw conclusions, but merely expresses a judgment on the matters raised (the Resolution of Plenum of the Supreme Court No. 28 of December 21, 2010). The expert, according to Art. 85 code of civil procedure of the Russian Federation and article 57 of the criminal procedure code Freemeet the right to review case materials; to ask the court to grant him additional materials and documents for research; ask at the hearing questions of witnesses, etc., But the expert invited by the defence, does not even warn about criminal liability for knowingly giving false imprisonment (Art. 307 code of criminal procedure), which obviously makes it a meaningless figure in the process.
all this at the end of 2019 Russian President Vladimir Putin reported Henry Reznik, member of the Council on human rights. The result was a presidential Commission to consider the possibility of giving the profession the right to appoint a forensic examination. Renowned lawyer headed the working group, and should be to report on the results of 1 of July, But the orders have not been executed, that is probably due to the General stagnation in the era of the pandemic. Russian human rights defenders look forward to addressing this issue and also another set at the meeting: Russia needs the institution of the investigating judges, which implement the principle of adversarial proceedings and impartially shall exercise control over all participants in the process at all stages of the proceedings. Such officials are operating successfully in many Western European countries and in the republics of the former Soviet Union.
And the investigating judge had already taken place in the Russian Empire. Emperor Alexander II – he became famous and the Judicial reform of 1864, the Preliminary investigation has ceased to be the prerogative of the police, they took impartial judicial investigators, obeying only the criminal chambers of the court. “The court fast, just, merciful and equal for all” was not an empty word for Russia in the second half of the nineteenth, and Russia needs modern.
Anatoly Forcompatibility that no legislative amendments are indispensable: “Postsecondaire, curated by Henry Reznik, will be an important step towards a just, impartial, and thorough investigation. It is very important to ensure that the defence and the prosecution have equal rights, and the examination held at the initiative of the investigator and the defender was considered to be equivalent. And in the future –should the institution of investigative judges, lawyers without professional deformation, controlled by Russian Themis”.
