Non-participation of the defendant in commission of crime as the basis for acquittal

Pronouncement of the sentence of acquittal pursues the aims of protection of the rights and interests of the person and citizen as well as conviction of perpetrators. Acquittal of the defendant means disagreement of court with the opinion of law enforcement agencies involved in criminal prosecution. A guarded attitude of modern Russian society to sentences of acquittal is caused, first, by misunderstanding of the role of court in criminal legal proceedings. Thus, an independent judicial discretion is a guarantee of lawful, reasonable and motivated sentences as well as a better work of criminal prosecution bodies. According to Item 2, Part 2, Article 302 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation the court must pass a sentence of acquittal if the defendant is not involved in the commission of crime. The wording of this basis for the sentence of acquittal resulted in a brisk discussion in legal literature. Scientists-processualists offered various wordings for the specified basis. Some authors connected the defendant's acquittal with the fact that he did not commit a crime. Others considered that the innocence of the defendant could be the basis of acquittal. Still others highlight groundlessness of charge as the above basis. In the given article, the problem of non-participation of the defendant in commission of crime is considered on the materials of concrete criminal cases. Often the court passes the sentence of acquittal based on Item 1, Part, Article 27 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. We consider that support of acquittal by reference to Item 1, Part1, Article 27 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is not quite lawful since this norm provides the termination of criminal case, but not pronouncement of the sentence of acquittal on the grounds defined in Article 302 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The wording "the defendant is not involved in commission of crime" means that the question of existence of crime and corpus delicti has been ascertained, but the assumption of guilt of the defendant was inconsistent. Judicial proceedings terminate by the sentence of acquittal when prosecution used all procedural and criminalistic ways, modes and means, but charges were not strongly confirmed. The resolution of the sentence of acquittal due to non-participation of the defendant in commission of crime notes that the existence of crime was proved but there is lack of evidence to make a conclusion about the guilt of defendant in commission of this crime. Conclusion about non-participation of the defendant in commission of crime can be based both on the proofs which authentically establish his non-participation and exclude the commission of crime by the defendant and on the principle of presumption of innocence if the court does not have belief in the validity of guilt of the defendant.

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