Remote Participation of the Accused (Suspect) at the Preliminary Investigation Stage as an Alternative to the Criminal Proceedings Stay

The participation of the accused at the stage of preliminary investigation presupposes the possibility of exercising his right to defense. However, in cases of being in a territory significantly remote from the location of the preliminary investigation body, including outside Russia, the impossibility of personal participation in investigative and other procedural actions, one of the ways of interaction between the accused and law enforcement agencies may be remote participation through electronic interaction systems, and video conferencing. Draft laws on the amendment into the RF Criminal Procedure Code on conducting investigative actions through video-conference communication were pending at the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 2015 and 2018, but were not finalized and adopted. The provisions of the Second Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, providing for the simplification and acceleration of the procedure for providing mutual legal assistance in terms of the possibility of interrogating the accused (suspect) via videoconference, Russia, upon ratification of the protocol in 2019, did not allow to apply. In criminal cases of an economic nature, which reverberate in society and raise many questions about the activities of law enforcement agencies, large entrepreneurs often leave Russia, unable to remotely take part in investigative actions, present evidence in their defense, and get acquainted with procedural decisions in a criminal case. This leads to an increase in the number of suspended criminal cases, according to art. 208, part 1, clauses 1-3 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. In 2019, the total number of economic criminal cases increased by 37% compared to 2018, while the number of suspended criminal cases under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation increased by 15.83%, under Art. 159.1-159.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — by 86.93%. The relevance of the topic is also due to the coronavirus pandemic, which limited the freedom of movement of Russian citizens both within the country and abroad. In this regard, the use of video-conferencing in the investigation of criminal cases is becoming a vital necessity, the imperative of the times.

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