Trial in absentia in criminal cases: implementation problems in the context of comparative legal research

The study aims to analyze the peculiarities of the criminal procedural regulation of trial in absentia in foreign states, to identify the most significant problems of making judgments in absentia under the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and to suggest ways to solve them in order to optimize the law enforcement judicial practice. To achieve the aim, the analysis of investigative jurisprudence was carried out, data of judicial statistics were collected and analyzed, a questionnaire to study opinions of 425 judges from seven regions of the Russian Federation was developed (the survey was conducted in 2014-2016). The research is based on the dialectic method of scientific knowledge of objective reality. When writing the article, general and private scientific methods of research were used: system, historical, statistical, axiomatic, comparative and legal ones, methods of expert assessment, questioning, etc. In the course of research, the authors considered the following conceptual problems of making judgments in absentia: terminological support, grounds for conducting trial in absentia, the implementation of the rule of no reformatio in pejus in this type of trial, the possibility of trial in absentia when the person is not only on the international bout also on the federal wanted list, the particularities of the court investigation conducted in the absence of the defendant, the procedural value of the judgment in absentia, the specifics of the judgment, the delivery of the judgment in absentia and the problems of its appeal and execution. The authors generalized the received results and came to the following conclusions: the existence of the institution of trial in absentia in criminal cases is historically conditioned, and the consideration of a criminal case in absentia initiated by the defendant not only complies with their legitimate interests, but also in general corresponds to the interests of the victim, society and the state on the timely and proper judicial protection of violated rights. Meanwhile, the consideration of a criminal case in absentia outside the initiative of the defendant must be accompanied by appropriate mechanisms for guaranteeing the exercise of the legitimate rights and interests of the defendant.

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