According to statistics, in Russia more than 2 million crimes are committed annually, and almost every one of them is a preliminary investigation.
During the investigation, all circumstances must be established and evidence gathered. At the end of the procedure, the investigator forms an indictment or act.
How do they differ? Indictment and indictment are two forms of one outcome. The conclusion is created if the accused has committed a serious crime, because the materials of the criminal case are kept by the investigator, the act - if a non-serious crime is committed and the interrogator is engaged in the case.
After the preliminary investigation is completed, the case file with the indictment is sent to the prosecutor, who decides to transfer the materials to the court.
Preliminary investigation
During the preliminary investigation, the investigator collects evidence, ascertains the circumstances of the crime and generates materials based on the results.
The indictment is the prerogative of the investigating authorities. This document must contain all the data defined by law (Article 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). Without this information, the indictment is considered unformed. The preliminary investigation should be carried out without procedural violations. The materials of the criminal case, which are formed in the process, must be carefully studied by both the prosecutor and the defense counsel, as well as by the accused. In addition, victims may have access to materials.
In the aggregate, the materials of the criminal case are procedural documents, the forms and requirements of which are enshrined in the legislation under article 474 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Familiarization with the materials is made only at the end of the preliminary investigation.
The terms and procedure for familiarization are defined in article 217 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In this case, motions may be filed regarding evidence and application of procedural rules. The petitions are considered by the investigator, who can reject or satisfy the applications of the persons participating in the case.
Submission of materials to the prosecutor
After the initial procedural documents are ready, the investigator signs an indictment document and sends it to the prosecutor for approval. The public prosecutor is obliged to consider all the materials of the case and study them within 5 days.
It is recommended that the investigation of the materials begin with an indictment, but some experts believe that in an investigation the investigator most often expresses his own point of view on the crime in terms of the guilt or innocence of the accused. Thus, the opinion of the investigator may affect the decision not only of the prosecutor, but also of other officials involved in the case.
A copy of the indictment must be sent to the accused, otherwise there will be a violation of the procedural code. In the event that the conclusion cannot be obtained for any reason by the accused, the prosecutor makes a note in the materials with a mandatory indication of the reasons.
The content of the indictment
The indictment is studied in the process of familiarization with the case materials and is the first step in the study. Drawing up an indictment involves the inclusion of the following information:
- FULL NAME. the accused.
- Personal data is a brief description.
- The content of the charge: the place, time, purpose and motive for the commission of the crime, as well as circumstances relevant to the case.
- Formulated charge using articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
- List of evidence supporting the charge.
- Mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
- Information about the victim, including the nature and extent of the harm that was caused to him as a result of the crime.
- Information about the plaintiff or defendant (civilian direction).
First of all, it is necessary to pay attention to how the indictment was drawn up, the design of which is enshrined in article 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.
Since the indictment is the document from which acquaintance with the case begins, it must necessarily contain references to the sheets and volumes of the criminal case. This is necessary so that, if necessary, the student can refer to the corresponding sheet and consider the information in more detail.
Concept of evidence
Due to the fact that the indictment contains a list of material and other evidence, it should be considered in more detail what exactly relates to evidence.
According to article 73 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, evidence in a criminal case can be considered:
- Testimony of the suspect.
- The testimony of the victim.
- Protocols of investigative measures.
- Expert opinion.
- Expert opinion.
- Evidence.
Indications
Evidence must be obtained legally. Illegally obtained evidence is unacceptable, therefore, in such a complex process as criminal proceedings, they are not considered. There are also certain rules for obtaining evidence as one of the evidence.
In particular, it is forbidden to conduct an inquiry if the suspect is intoxicated, has a serious illness, which prevents him from giving evidence adequately, is also mentally ill or is a citizen of a foreign country and does not know the Russian language. In addition, the testimony of minors, during the interrogation of which there is no teacher, guardian or one of the parents, etc., can be considered evidence.
Information on whether the interrogation procedure has been followed is entered into the indictment. A sample interrogation protocol and form rules are defined in Articles 174 and 190 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Expert Conclusions
The expert opinions included in the evidence must be drawn up in accordance with Article 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The specialist who conducts the necessary research should remember that knowingly false conclusion is criminally punishable.
The expert in the study does not have the right to collect documents or missing information on his own. When studying documents, it is necessary to check which expert conducted the examination. This should be an independent expert, not interested in the results of the study. The results are entered in the usual manner in the indictment. A sample expert opinion in the original is attached to the case file.
Indictment circumstances
Aggravating or mitigating circumstances in the indictment duplicate the list of those in the case file. According to Articles 61 and 63 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, circumstances are taken into account when sentencing, which can be either reduced or increased, unlike the standard.
So, for example, a mitigating circumstance is the fact of the commission of a minor offense for the first time, taking into account which a real or conditional term can be set below the lower limit.
Final procedure
The approval of the indictment by the prosecutor involves the transfer of materials to the court. Before approval, the prosecutor has the right to make changes to the document or to carry out other actions, in accordance with article 222 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, including terminating the criminal case and prosecution. In addition, if the prosecutor notes violations or deficiencies, he has the right to send the materials back to the investigator. In this case, a copy of the indictment in a new format should also be sent to the accused.
The changes in the indictment to which the prosecutor is entitled to make are as follows:
- The essence of the charge, the qualification of the crime.
- Change of a measure of restraint or its cancellation, except for house arrest and detention (this measure can be changed by a court).
- Addition or reduction of the list of persons who may be summoned to court (except for defense witnesses).
After the conclusion is approved by the prosecutor, the materials are sent to the court. All petitions and applications are submitted at this stage not to the investigator, but to the judge.
In the event that there is a separation of the case into a separate proceeding or combination of cases, an indictment is also drawn up. The sample document does not change under the circumstances.
reference
Together with the indictment, a statement of the results of the investigation should be drawn up. Since the indictment contains data a priori, the certificate should contain exactly the results of the work done.
It contains precisely the reference data on the criminal case:
- Terms of investigation.
- Preventive measure.
- Procedural costs.
- The presence of civil claims and security measures.
A statement of the results of the investigation, unlike other materials, is available only to the public prosecutor.
Allocation and merging of cases
Criminal proceedings know cases where, during a preliminary investigation of one case, there is a need to separate materials into a separate proceeding in another criminal case. This is due to the fact that the investigation reveals a crime that is not related to the accused and his act. Accordingly, in this case, at the end of each proceeding, an indictment is drawn up in the criminal case.
Joining cases involves the presence of several materials on different cases, which are combined on one or more grounds:
- commission of one crime by several persons;
- committing acts related to each other by different persons;
- crimes committed by one person or group of persons.
When combining cases, one conclusion is drawn up, in which all circumstances, persons and other categories are indicated based on the materials of the combined criminal cases.