To the discussion on the return of the protocol form of pre-trial preparation of materials

Relevance. The article presents a retrospective view of the specifics of the application of pre-trial preparation of materials in protocol form in the context of a long-term discussion about the advisability of its reintroduction as an independent accelerated procedure for investigating minor crimes with an uncomplicated composition, an attempt is made to answer the pressing questions of whether the institution of protocol form of pre-trial proceedings is in demand now and what guidelines should be followed when preparing a regulatory framework for its recreation in modern conditions.

Purposes: to study the peculiarities of legislative regulation of the protocol form of pre-trial preparation of materials in a criminal case, to formulate mandatory conditions for the reintroduction of this institution into the system of domestic pre-trial proceedings.

Objectives: analysis of legislative regulation and practice of applying pre-trial preparation of case materials; comparative analysis of author's approaches justifying the feasibility of reintroducing the protocol form of pre-trial investigation; determination of the preferred vector of development of legislation in the field of consolidation of accelerated procedures for investigating crimes of minor gravity committed in the conditions of evidence.

Methodology. When writing the article, the method of legal modeling, as well as formal-logical, statistical, historical-legal, systemic and other methods were used.

The results of the study contain theoretical provisions justifying the need to modernize the existing procedure for expedited proceedings in cases of minor and obvious crimes, taking into account the experience of using the protocol form of preparing materials in the Soviet period.

Conclusion. The results of the study made it possible to identify the advantages and disadvantages of the protocol form of preparation of materials in comparison with the modern form of accelerated pre-trial investigation - inquiry in an abbreviated form ‒ and also to formulate general requirements for the development of a legal basis for recreating the proposed accelerated procedure for investigating uncomplicated and minor crimes.

1. Kachalova O.V. Limits of simplification of criminal proceedings: a critical analysis. Rossijskoe pravosudie = Russian justice. 2019;(3):62‒67. (In Russ.)

2. Gavrilov B.Y. Protocol form of pre-trial preparation of materials and abbreviated inquiry: comparative legal analysis. Trudy Akademii upravleniya MVD Rossii = Proceedings of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2014;(2):15‒19 (In Russ.)

3. Belavin A.A., Bochkin S.A. Problems of the abbreviated form of inquiry. Rossijskij sledovatel' = Russian investigator. 2016;(13):12‒17. (In Russ.)

4. Lazareva V.A., Yarygina L.A. Police inquiry as a basic model of simplified pre-trial proceedings. Ugolovnoe pravo = Criminal law. 2016;(4):101‒109. (In Russ.)

5. Hismatullin I.G., Isaeva R.M. Inquiry as a simplified form of investigation: myth or reality? Pravo i gosudarstvo: teoriya i praktika = Law and state: theory and practice. 2019;(12):272‒275. (In Russ.)

6. Gaas N.N. Prospects for the development of a shortened form of inquiry. Aktual'nye problemy bor'by s prestupleniyami i inymi pravonarusheniyami = Current issues in combating crimes and other offenses. 2022;(22-1):44‒46. (In Russ.)

7. Kozyavin A.A., Ryabinina T.K., Snegireva D.E. Differentiation of criminal procedural form: essence, history and development prospects, problems of procedural understanding. Izvestiya YugoZapadnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya i pravo = Proceedings of the Southwest State University. Series: History and Law. 2019;9(5):92‒104. (In Russ.)

8. Nikiforenko Y.L. New - well forgotten old: Soviet protocol form as a promising model of summary proceedings in criminal cases. Yuridicheskaya nauka i praktika: Vestnik Nizhegorodskoj akademii MVD Rossii = Legal science and practice: Bulletin of the Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2016;(3):174‒179. (In Russ.)

9. Grigor'ev D.A. Accelerated form of pre-trial proceedings: past and present. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta MVD Rossii = Bulletin of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2016;(2):119‒120. (In Russ.)

10. Gavrilov B.Y. Protocol form of pre-trial proceedings - genesis, current state, development prospects. Vestnik ekonomicheskoj bezopasnosti = Bulletin of Economic Security. 2016;(5):12‒18. (In Russ.)

11. Himicheva O.V. Issues of differentiation of criminal proceedings. Sovremennoe ugolovno-processual'noe pravo ‒ uroki istorii i problemy dal'nejshego reformirovaniya = Modern criminal procedural law - lessons of history and problems of further reform. 2019;2(1):240‒246. (In Russ.)

12. Nasonova I.A., Zotova M.V. Protocol form of pre-trial preparation of materials as a basic model for inquiry in abbreviated form. Vestnik Voronezhskogo instituta MVD Rossii = Bulletin of the Voronezh Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2017;(2):47‒53. (In Russ.)

13. Gavrilov B.YA., Krymov V.A., Shpagina Y.V. Criminal misconduct: new facets of Russian legislation. Pravo. Zhurnal Vysshej shkoly ekonomiki = Law. Journal of the Higher School of Economics. 2022;(1):115‒139. (In Russ.)

14. Kachalova O.V., Gerasenkov V.M. Accelerated pre-trial proceedings in Russian criminal proceedings: formation of optimal models. Pravosudie = Justice. 2022;4(1):103‒121. (In Russ.)

15. Solodovnik V.V. Protocol form of pre-trial preparation of materials as the main prospect of simplification of proceedings in criminal cases. Vestnik Belgorodskogo yuridicheskogo instituta MVD Rossii = Bulletin of the Belgorod Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2022;(4):50‒56. (In Russ.)

16. Shpagina Y.V. Does modern Russian criminal procedure need accelerated pre-trial proceedings? Trudy Akademii upravleniya MVD Rossii = Works of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2019;(3):145‒152. (In Russ.)

17. Gerasenkov V.M., Gerasenkova O.A. Differentiation of forms of inquiry in Russian criminal proceedings. Pravo i gosudarstvo: teoriya i praktika = Law and state: theory and practice. 2017;(2):136‒140. (In Russ.)

18. Ryapolova Y.P. The figure of the "suspect" person at the stage of initiating a criminal case. In: Tatishchevskie chteniya: aktual'nye problemy nauki i praktiki: materialy XVII Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii = Tatishchev Readings: Current Problems of Science and Practice: materials of the XVII International Scientific and Practical Conference. Vol. 2. Tol'yatti: Volzh. un-t im. V.N. Tatishcheva; 2020. P. 214‒217. (In Russ.)

19. Kovalev O.G. On the issue of the institute of pre-trial preparation of materials in protocol form. Problemy pravoohranitel'noj deyatel'nosti = Problems of law enforcement. 2017;(4):43‒46. (In Russ.)

20. Guseva I.I. Shortened proceedings in Russian criminal proceedings: genesis, development and ways of optimization at the present stage. Sibirskie ugolovno-processual'nye i kriminalisticheskie chteniya = Siberian criminal procedural and forensic readings. 2018;(1):32‒40. (In Russ.)