A new instrument of legal regulation of the status of participants in criminal proceedings

The legal status is determined by the function of the participant of criminal proceedings and cannot violate its borders. The article notes a number of situations in the practice of legal regulation of the status of some participants in criminal proceedings where the legal regulation gaps are filled by giving elements of the status of one participant to another participant. So, the legislator transfers the rights of the suspect, the accused (defendant) to his close relatives at the termination of a criminal case due to the death of the accused, the suspect to protect their legitimate interests. Part 8. Art. 42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation establishes a similar provision to the deceased victim. Moreover, when persons who are not suspects, the accused or civil defendants in a criminal case, but owners of arrested property, have no sufficient rights to protect their legitimate interests, the legislator gives the owners procedural rights to protect property rights against unwarranted or excessively long limitations. Finally, the authors define the third situation of legal regulation of the participant's status, when the accused in a criminal case, allocated in a separate proceeding in connection with the pre-trial cooperation agreement, participates in criminal proceedings, and is not the defendant (accused) in the main criminal case and, at the same time, this person has an obligation to report information exposing other participants in the offense, but s/he is not a witness. The legislator does not apply to the accused the requirements of Articles 307 and 308 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation about criminal responsibility for the refusal of testimony and perjury and, appropriately, the rules of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Russian Federation during questioning at the court hearing in a criminal case allocated in separate proceedings in connection with the pre-trial cooperation agreement. The participant of criminal proceedings with one status (or without it) obtains elements of the status of another participant of criminal proceedings in the above situations. It indicates the emergence of a new instrument of legal regulation. It is the determination of the specific status of several participants in criminal proceedings. The specificity means going beyond the status usually determined in accordance with the functions of the participant in criminal proceedings. The article notes the causes of the emergence of the specific status and prospects for its further development.

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