Verkhovna Rada propose to simplify the criminal procedure in favor of the prosecution

Since the control of the court over the conduct of investigative actions takes a lot of time, let the prosecutor exercise it. Indeed, by simplifying the procedure, you can increase the efficiency of the pre-trial investigation.

This logic was used by the people's deputy Vladimir Kreidenko, who submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the corresponding draft Law No. 4661 of January 27, 2021. The author of the legislative initiative proposed to change some articles of the Criminal Procedure Code.

He drew attention to the fact that when considering applications for temporary access to things and documents, the investigating judges, referring to the workload, overwhelmingly schedule their consideration within a month, which makes it impossible to conduct a pre-trial investigation within a reasonable time. In addition, even after petitions have been considered, the court's decision is usually provided to the investigator after a long time, and sometimes even several days before its expiration.

Such a situation, according to the people's deputy, leads not only to a violation of the deadlines, but also in some cases to the impossibility of further withdrawal of the necessary documents, things (information), the storage period of which is limited.

Therefore, it is advisable to simplify the procedure for obtaining permission to seize things and documents, which can also be carried out on the basis of a decision of the investigator, in agreement with the prosecutor.

It is proposed to supplement the Code of Criminal Procedure with new provisions (Article 163-1), according to which the investigator, in agreement with the prosecutor or the prosecutor, shall issue a resolution on granting temporary access to things and documents, if the parties to the criminal proceedings in their petition prove (or the prosecutor independently establishes) the existence of sufficient grounds consider that things or documents:

a) are or may be in the possession of the respective natural or legal person;

b) by themselves or in combination with other things and documents of criminal proceedings are essential for the establishment of important circumstances of criminal proceedings;

c) do not contain a secret protected by law.

According to Andriy Trigub, associate partner of Skliarenko, Sydorenko and Partners, the proposed initiative may significantly worsen the level of observance of a person's right to defense. “Since, according to the idea of the people's deputies, applications for temporary access filed by the defense will also be considered by the prosecutor, thereby he gets the opportunity to control his procedural opponent,” the lawyer said. "It also contradicts the principle of adversariality and equality of parties in criminal proceedings."

Other changes have been proposed to empower law enforcement officials. In particular, regarding the conduct of a search of a person to identify and seize items seized from civilian circulation.