ISSUES OF ENSURING PROCEDURAL INDEPENDENCE OF AN INVESTIGATOR IN RUSSIAN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

The article analyzes certain problems of ensuring the procedural independence of an investigator in the Russian criminal process. The author notes the inner inconsistency of the norms of modern Russian criminal procedural legislation concerning the participation of an investigator in criminal proceedings, which raises problems when trying to apply said norms practically. The author also claims these issues of the criminal procedural legislation to be one of the factors reducing the procedural independence of an investigator. The article examines the influence of prosecutors supervision, as well as departmental and judicial control on the procedural independence of an investigator. There is an emphasis on the considerable debatableness of these issues. The article sees the investigator's discretion as the main way of realizing his procedural independence. Summing up, the author makes proposals on improving Russian criminal procedure legislation and disposing of duplicate control over the investigator's activities.