The Participation of the Defence Counsel in Proof in Criminal Proceedings

The article considers the question of the participation of the defender in proving at the preliminary investigation. An analysis of the legal framework regulating the participation of the defender in proving with the identification of problem areas and key features is presented. The author analyses scientific views on the possibility of implementing certain procedural actions of defence attorneys in proving. The author analyses the power of the defence lawyer conducting interrogations, making inquiries, obtaining references and other documents. The conditions for attaching the collected information to the materials of the criminal case are examined in detail. The possibility of using the defender in proving special knowledge was studied. The feature of this work is the included research results. The author conducted an included monitoring of the activities of investigators for 5 months. The protocols of investigative and other procedural actions in 43 criminal cases for the period 2016, 2017, 2018 were analyzed. Additionally, during the research, the author analyzed 50 pre-investigation materials. One of the central points of the study was the analysis of the claims by the party for the protection of petitions and their further resolution by the investigator. Based on the results of the study, a general idea was drawn up on the practical implementation of the defender's options in proving and the quality of the legal assistance provided. On the basis of a synthesis of the results of the study, recommendations were developed to improve the mechanism for regulating the powers of defence attorneys. Amendments were made to the current procedural legislation regarding the regulation of the procedure for the participation of counsel in a criminal case. For lawyers, recommendations were prepared on interaction with investigators and implementation of the powers granted by p. 3 ch. 86 of the Criminal Proceedings Code of the Russian Federation.