On the procedural status of persons who have entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement with the investigation

Since the introduction of Article 40.1 into the Russian Federation Code of Criminal Procedure, the scientific community has debated many of the provisions on entering and using a pre-trial cooperation agreement. In particular, in recent years there has been a question on the procedural status of the person who has entered into a cooperation agreement and is testifying against his/her accomplices (real or contemplated). There are opinions that such a person is a witness in the case against other persons, and, for the competence of his/her testimony, s/he should be warned about criminal liability for refusal to testify and for perjury. Part 2 of Article 45 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation grants everyone the right to protect their rights and freedoms by all means not prohibited by law. Thus, perjury can be regarded as one of the ways of protection, since no one has ever obliged the defendant (accused) to tell the truth. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and it is right, does not provide liability for giving false testimony for the defendant, yet it does for the witness. In the worst case (the deliberate character of false information must first be proved), the accused who entered into a cooperation agreement and gave false testimony against others faces only a review of judgment in accordance with Art. 317.8 of the RF Code of Criminal Procedure. It is well known that according to Pt. 2 of Art. 77 of the RF Criminal Code, confession of guilt in committing a crime can be made the basis of an indictment only if the guilt is confirmed by the available evidence in a criminal case. "Pointing" at the guilt of another person appears to be even less valuable.

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