Practitioner Participation at the Stage of Initiating a Criminal Case: To the Issue of Compliance with the Principle of Adversarial Process

Abstract

The article examines the procedure for the participation of a specialist as a carrier of special knowledge and a special subject of criminal proceedings at the stage of initiating a criminal case and conducting verifi cation actions by the bodies of inquiry and preliminary investigation on the basis of the current criminal procedure legislation. The article analyzes the current criminal procedure legislation that establishes the legal status of a specialist, his legal status and the possibility of applying special knowledge at the stage of initiating a criminal case. The problems of the participation of a specialist at the stage of initiating a criminal case based on the imperfection of the norms of the criminal procedure law are revealed. It is established that at the stage of initiating a criminal case, a specialist performs an exclusively auxiliary function aimed at helping the preliminary investigation bodies, which excludes other subjects from using special knowledge through the involvement of a specialist. In turn, this situation creates unequal opportunities for the prosecution and defense parties at the stage of initiating a criminal case in implementing the principle of equality and competitiveness of the parties. The identified problems are analyzed from the point of view of the possibility of a systematic interpretation of these norms in accordance with other provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter-the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation), in connection with which it is concluded that it is necessary to adjust the current legislation. The obtained conclusions are formulated in the form of recommendations for improving the current criminal procedure legislation, namely, making changes to the content of Article 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The proposed changes will make it possible to extend to the specialist the norms regulating his activities at the stage of preliminary investigation, which will help to equalize his legal status in criminal proceedings.