Reflection of the Legitimate Interests of the Victim in his Right to Know about the Suspicions and Charges (Based on Russian and Kazakh Materials)

Abstract

The object of the study is the legitimate interest of the victim and its reflection in the right of the victim to know about the suspicions and charges brought against him in a criminal case. The victim is interested in being informed in a timely manner about procedural decisions that determine the scope of suspicion and accusation, so that they are confirmed. This need of the victim is not sufficiently reflected in the criminal procedure law: they are not informed about the suspicions and charges formulated by the body conducting the criminal procedure. In fact, the victim receives relatively complete information about the charges against them only at the stage of completion of pre-trial proceedings, namely familiarization with the case materials. In this regard, the paper proposes to introduce into the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Kazakhstan the norms fixing the notification of the victim about the date, time and place of the announcement to the suspect of the decision on the qualification of the act, handing him a copy of this decision, a copy of the report on the criminal offense after its approval by the prosecutor. Insufficient awareness of the victim about the quality of the investigation at the stages following the bringing of the accused to trial by the prosecutor creates conditions for setting charges that do not meet the interests of the victim and leads to judicial errors. A change or waiver of charges in court is accepted by the public prosecutor without taking into account the position of the victim. These problems are proposed to be solved by postponing the consideration of the case and issuing by the court an order to the pretrial proceedings to eliminate the gaps in the investigation, and if it is not fulfilled, to make a decision based on the available evidence.