A Protocol as an Unnecessary Element in the Mechanism of Detention of a Person on Suspicion of Committing a Crime

Abstract

In this paper the author examines the Protocol of Detention of the Suspect as a criminal procedural act recording the decision of the investigator concerning short-term restriction of the constitutional human right to freedom and personal inviolability. Relying methodologically on the true purpose of detention of the suspect in the general system of rights-limiting mechanisms in the field of crime detection, disclosure and investigation, the author concludes that the procedural decision on its implementation (detention protocol) lacks the “high” legal meaning that is embedded in other legislative acts governing preliminary investigation. The author believes that, despite the criminal procedural formalization, the detention of the suspect, in fact, remains a preventive “police” measure used for the purpose of “external,” “pre-trial” ensuring of a favorable regime of pre-trial proceedings in the criminal case. In this regard, it is proposed to exclude the detention protocol from the sphere of criminal procedure and transfer it to the administrative jurisdiction of the police and other “law enforcement” agencies engaged in the actual detention and transportation of potential suspects.