The subject and limits of proof under the reduced form of inquiry

The article examines some problems (namely, the subject and limits of proving) connected with the conducting of inquiry in a reduced form which was introduced by the Federal law 4.03.2013 № 23-ФЗА reduced form of inquiry implies a simplified procedure at the expense of exemptions in proving. Legislators have enacted that evidence in criminal cases is to be collected in the volume sufficient for the establishment of the crime event, the character and amount of damage and the guilt of a criminal (provided by Items 1, 2 and 4, Article 73 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation). It may seem that the range of circumstances to be proved in criminal cases is restricted. But other circumstances provided for in Part 1, Article 73 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation are also to be proved because it is necessary for resolving some problems both before the conducting of inquiry in a reduced form and in the course of it. According to Item1, Part 3, Article 226.5 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation the inquiry officer has the right “not to examine the evidence if it was not contested by the accused, his lawyer, an injured party or his representative”. Thus, when an inquiry officer conducts a usual enquiry or a preliminary investigation he is to check the evidence (Article 87of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation), but he doesn’t have to do this under some conditions during the reduced form of inquiry. According to Item 2, Part 3, Article 226.5of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation evidence covers all explanations when the reported crime is checked. The admissibility of such evidence is questionable because it is not mentioned in the list of sources (Part 2, Article 74of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation). They derive from the sources in the ways that are not provided for the collection of evidence in the criminal procedural law. But if all the information obtained during the pre-investigation check can be framed in a procedural form according to the list of evidence defined in the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, such questions won’t arise. Also, the exemption from evidence is the possibility not to schedule a forensic expert examination on the matters the answers to which can be found in the expert opinion on the results of a checked reported crime except the cases mentioned in Item 3”а”,” б”, “ в”, Part З, Article 226.5 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation. The above deviations can lead to erroneous decisions based on unchecked evidence. Therefore, the norms regulating the inquiry in a reduced form should be brought in line with other norms of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation by the way of changing.

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