Responsibility for disclosure of information constituting an investigative secret
Participants in a criminal case must be warned in writing by the investigator about the inadmissibility of disclosing the secrets of the investigation and about responsibility for this violation. The circle of these participants is wide: the victim, the civil plaintiff, legal representatives and representatives of the victim and civil plaintiff, defense attorney, civil defendant, representative of the civil defendant, witness, expert, specialist, translator, attesting witness, participants in checking the crime report. Prosecutors, investigators, and interrogators are not included in this circle.
As we can see, the suspect and accused do not sign a non-disclosure agreement. Otherwise, these persons would not be able to fully exercise their right to defense: this is directly stated in the Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 467-O dated December 21, 2004. Unfortunately, in practice, investigators often try to obtain such a subscription from suspects and accused in order to complicate the defense process for them. Such actions can be easily challenged in court by a criminal lawyer.
Commentary on Article 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation
1. The connection of criminal cases as a general condition of the preliminary investigation ensures its comprehensiveness, objectivity and completeness. For these purposes, the investigative body combines two or more criminal cases in one proceeding if there are grounds specified in the commented article.
2. Comprehensiveness, objectivity and completeness of the investigation should not conflict with other principles of the criminal process. Thus, the exercise of the accused’s right to defense is possible only against an individual, specific accusation. An endless investigation into the accused’s “dark past” would practically deprive him of this procedural right. An excessive requirement to disclose all crimes committed by all persons is contrary to the right to be tried without undue delay (clause “c” of Part 3 of Article 14 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). Unreasonably combining cases is fraught with the risk of turning the proceedings into a multi-volume paper “monster”, delaying the process and violating the deadlines for the investigation, trial, and detention. For this reason, unlike the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR of 1960, in the current Code, the connection of cases no longer enjoys clear priority over their separation. However, the Code of Criminal Procedure as amended. The Federal Law of July 4, 2003 granted the judge the right to return the case to the prosecutor if there are grounds for joining the cases (clause 4, part 1, article 237). As a result, this norm has become, in a sense, a sanction for not joining cases during the preliminary investigation.
3. As a rule, to connect cases, it is necessary to prove the participation of persons in the commission of crimes. Therefore, the cases are joined against the accused (after a decision has been made to charge them as an accused). As an exception, the law does not prohibit joining cases against suspects and even against unidentified persons. At the same time, it should be noted that due to the presumption of innocence, the accused is considered innocent of committing a crime until the court verdict enters into legal force. Therefore, when connecting cases, it is unlawful, in our opinion, to talk about the commission of crimes by the accused, and especially by the suspects, as is done in Part 1 of the commented article. Its provisions should be interpreted restrictively, for example, to speak not about the commission of several crimes by one person (clause 2 of part 1 of the article), but about the fact that a person has the procedural status of an accused or suspect in several criminal cases, etc. Part 2 of the commented article gives the right to join cases against unidentified persons if there is evidence that crimes were committed by the same person or the same group. This may be evidence about a specific method of committing a crime, the subject of the crime (for example, belonging to one batch of counterfeit money).
A special type of connection of cases is the combination in one proceeding of counter-statements in a private prosecution case (Part 3 of Article 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
It is not allowed to join cases on other grounds (commonality of criminal results of careless acts of non-participants; careless storage of a weapon and its use by another person).
4. The condition for connection is the presence of the cases themselves that have been initiated and under investigation, since only criminal cases, but not materials, can be combined in one proceeding. The following rules follow from this condition: a) cases suspended and terminated cannot be combined without correspondingly resuming the case or canceling the decision to terminate the case; b) if during the investigation a new crime is discovered (event, fact for which the case was not initially initiated), then it is necessary first in accordance with Art. 146 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, make a decision to initiate a new case, and then combine them in one proceeding. For more information, see com. to Art. 146.
Article 154. Separation of a criminal case
Article 154. Separation of a criminal case
[Code of Criminal Procedure] [Part Two] [Section VIII] [Chapter 21]
. The inquiry officer or investigator has the right to separate another criminal case from a criminal case into separate proceedings in relation to:
- 1) individual suspects or accused in criminal cases of crimes committed in complicity, in the cases specified in paragraphs 1 - 4 of part one of Article 208 of this Code;
- 2) a minor suspect or accused brought to criminal liability together with adult accused;
- 3) other persons suspected or accused of committing a crime not related to the acts charged in the criminal case under investigation, when this becomes known during the preliminary investigation;
- 4) a suspect or accused with whom the prosecutor has entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement. In the event of a threat to the safety of the suspect or accused, the materials of the criminal case identifying his identity are withdrawn from the criminal case initiated and added to the criminal case against the suspect or accused, separated into separate proceedings;
- 5) individual suspects in respect of whom the preliminary investigation is carried out in the manner established by Chapter 32.1 of this Code, if in relation to other suspects or accused the preliminary investigation is carried out in accordance with the general procedure.
. Separation of a criminal case into a separate proceeding to complete the preliminary investigation is permitted if this does not affect the comprehensiveness and objectivity of the preliminary investigation and resolution of the criminal case, in cases where this is caused by the large volume of the criminal case or the multiplicity of its episodes.
. The separation of a criminal case is carried out on the basis of a decision of the investigator or inquiry officer. If a criminal case is separated into separate proceedings for the purpose of conducting a preliminary investigation of a new crime or against a new person, then the resolution must contain a decision to initiate a criminal case in the manner prescribed by Article 146 of this Code.
. A criminal case separated into separate proceedings must contain originals or copies of procedural documents relevant to this criminal case certified by the investigator or inquiry officer.
. Materials from a criminal case separated into separate proceedings are admitted as evidence in this criminal case.
. The period of preliminary investigation in a criminal case separated into separate proceedings is calculated from the date of the relevant decision, when a criminal case is separated for a new crime or against a new person. In other cases, the period is calculated from the moment of initiation of the criminal case from which it was separated into separate proceedings.
Everything about criminal cases
Go to the text of the Code of Criminal Procedure
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Connection of criminal cases
- part 1 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
list of situations when cases can be connected:
- Clause 1 Part 1 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
for crimes committed in complicity
- clause 2 part 1 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
for several crimes
- clause 3, part 1 of 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
when concealing crimes
- Part 2 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
if the person has not been identified the person who committed the crime
Procedure for joining cases
- Part 3 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
the connection is made by the head of the investigation agency, the prosecutor
- Part 3 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
cases with different jurisdiction are joined by the prosecutor
Term of investigation when merging cases
- Part 4 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
the duration of the investigation is determined by the longest
- Part 4 153 Code of Criminal Procedure
the duration of the investigation is absorbed by the longest period
Article 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Connection of criminal cases
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Connection of criminal cases
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33 Code of
Criminal Procedure jurisdiction when joining cases
- part 1 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
situations where cases can be connected - at the investigation stage
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239.2 of the Code of
- connection of criminal cases - at the judicial stage
— clause 4 part 1 237 Code of Criminal Procedure
return to the prosecutor - if it is necessary to combine criminal cases
1) Criminal cases in relation to:
1). several persons who committed one or more crimes in complicity;
2). one person who has committed several crimes;
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— 316 CC
concealment of crimes
3). a person accused of not previously promised concealment of crimes being investigated in these criminal cases.
2) The connection of criminal cases is also allowed in cases where the person to be charged as an accused has not been identified, but there are sufficient grounds to believe that several crimes were committed by one person or group of persons.
3) Connection of criminal cases:
- being in the investigation of the investigator - is carried out on the basis of a resolution of the head of the investigative body.
- being processed by the investigator - is carried out on the basis of the prosecutor's decision.
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- Part 7 151 Code of Criminal Procedure
when merging cases, jurisdiction is determined by the prosecutor
The decision to join criminal cases of crimes under investigation in accordance with 150 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to different preliminary investigation bodies is made by the head of the investigative body based on the decision of the prosecutor to determine jurisdiction.
If the preliminary investigation is carried out in the form of an inquiry, the said decision is made by the prosecutor.
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— 162 Code of Criminal Procedure
period of preliminary investigation
4) When combining criminal cases, the period for proceedings on them is determined by the criminal case that has the longest period of preliminary investigation.
At the same time, the period of proceedings in other criminal cases is absorbed by the longest period and is not additionally taken into account.
Return to the text of the Code of Criminal Procedure
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