SPECIAL PROCEDURE OF THE TRIAL WITH THE CONSENT OF THE ACCUSED TO THE CHARGE: PROBLEMS OF APPLICATION IN A NUMBER OF CASES

Abstract

The article considers the problem related with the application of a special procedure for the trial in a number of cases. Its urgency is determined by the introduction in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of the draft Federal Law № 690652-7, which proposes to apply the simplified procedure provided for in Chapter 40 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Russian Federation only in cases of crimes of petty and medium gravity. The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation supports the initiative of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The article analyzes the provisions of bills introduced over the past seventeen years in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, which proposed both narrowing down and expanding the range of application for the special procedure of trial in a number of cases, the opinion of law enforcement officers and scientists on this issue; methods used by prosecutors and public prosecutors in order to reduce the percentage of application of procedure provided for in Chapter 40 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation; the judges attitude to this position of state representatives on the side of prosecution. The author concludes that the initiative of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation only aims to reduce the number of sentences decided in a special order and has nothing to do with protecting persons accused of serious crimes. The authors conclusions are based on analysis of the results of research of criminal cases, which were prosecuted in a general procedure instead of a special one, a survey of judges and prosecutors and illustrated with specific examples. It is proposed that formulation of Part 1 of Article 314 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation should be kept so far as it relates to the range of cases in which a sentence may be judged in a special order.