Protection of victims and victims of crimes: rules and procedures for protection in criminal trials

The protection of victims from various types of crimes should be based on the principle of adversarial action with the accused party. Any kind of power that can radically change the course of an investigation guarantees the safety of persons affected by criminal acts.

The court's sentencing depends on how correctly and consistently this status is implemented. In particular, thanks to the application of this right, by a court decision it is possible to obtain full compensation for all damage, as well as fair punishment of the perpetrator.

Taking into account the fact that the defense of the accused person must be carried out with the participation of a professional defense lawyer, it is best to invite a similar specialist for the injured party.

Video about the peculiarities of interrogation of a victim by a lawyer

Legal basis of protection

What legal basis is there for ensuring the safety of the victim and witness during criminal proceedings?
The need to ensure the protection of such participants in the process is established in separate articles of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. Some requirements for ensuring such support measures are contained in Federal Law No. 119. It is the latter legislative act that contains comprehensive rules that are applied by the court in relation to one or another category of persons participating in criminal proceedings.

Supreme Court Ruling No. 17 also provides that, in certain specified cases, lower courts may impose protective measures aimed at providing safety to crime victims and witnesses. Such motions apply to almost all criminal cases.

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Federal Law of August 20, 2004 No. 119-FZ “On state protection of victims, witnesses and other participants in criminal proceedings”

Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated June 29, 2010 N 17 “On the practice of application by courts of norms regulating the participation of the victim in criminal proceedings”

Important! Protecting victims of crimes and witnesses to illegal acts is a complex process that has an extensive regulatory framework.

Protective measures: first group

In accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the Federal Law, within the framework of criminal procedural law, a whole list of protective measures is established that are used in relation to the injured party and the witness. In particular, these include:

Personal protection, and property protection can also be provided: including housing;
It is necessary to regulate the communication through which notification will occur in case of emergency;
The victim and witness must have personal protective equipment that they can use in the event of an attack or other unplanned situation;
The guards must have all the information about the person under protection;
Certain information about the victim or witness must be confidential.

In some cases, measures aimed at ensuring the safety of such participants in the trial may be more radical in nature, in particular:

Making changes to the information contained in the documentation about protected persons;
Providing another place of residence for permanent residence;
Change in the appearance of the protected person;
Change of place of work or educational activity;
Temporary isolation in a safe place;
Other measures aimed at protecting the victim or witness of a criminal offense from the actions of the accused.

Protective measures: second group

Protection of the injured party or witness of a criminal act can be carried out in other, less radical ways. For example, the investigator does not reflect information about their identity in the protocol. As a rule, close people and relatives of the injured person fall under this system.
However, such a procedure is possible only in cases where the investigator has a special notification certified by the judge. In such a situation, when filling out documents and during the trial, the protected person will be represented under a pseudonym.

Important! According to the law, the investigator has the right to install a system for listening to telephone and other types of conversations between the protected citizen or other persons. The use of this kind of measures is required, as a rule, only in cases where law enforcement officials have every reason to believe that we are talking about extortion and an attempt to obtain a ransom. Applies only to the communication devices of the victim/witness himself if he has his consent.

In addition, protecting the injured party and eyewitnesses of the crime involves the use of the following measures of the second group:

The court hearing is held behind closed doors, that is, only citizens who are directly involved in the process can be present in the courtroom;
The interrogation is conducted one-on-one with the interrogating officer or investigator. The presence of unauthorized persons during this process is not permitted.;
A separate system of measures applies to military personnel.

Groups of protection bodies

Federal Law No. 119 regulates the procedure for assigning the responsibility for the protection of victims and witnesses of a criminal act to certain authorities.
Accordingly, such government bodies decide on the need for protection, choose ways to ensure the safety of this category of citizens, and also take upon themselves the implementation of all necessary measures. According to the law, there are two groups of authorities that are responsible for ensuring the protection of victims and witnesses of a criminal act.

The first group is the bodies that decide on the need to establish protective measures in relation to the injured citizen or witness to the crime. This category includes judges, heads of the investigative department or the investigators themselves, heads of bodies carrying out inquiries, other persons and authorities;
The second group of government institutions are bodies that are involved in applying security measures in relation to the protected.

This category includes the FSB, military units, bodies that control the circulation of psychotropic substances, bodies of the penal system, bailiffs and other government agencies with appropriate powers.

Consequently, the registration and provision of protection for victims of the criminal acts of the accused or witnesses to such a crime is a set of procedures that are dealt with by a fairly large number of different government agencies.

JUDGMENT OF APPEAL

In the name of the Russian Federation

Moscow November 14, 2014

Judicial panel for criminal cases of the Moscow City Court, consisting of: presiding judge Polyakova L.F., judges Rolgeiser O.V., Mokhova A.V.,

with the participation of the prosecutor of the appeal department of the criminal justice department of the Moscow prosecutor's office E.V. Shembereva, convicted Robu V., lawyer V.P. Murashov, representative of the victim, lawyer M.V. Yuryev, with secretary N.V. Romanova.

considered in open court the appeal presentation of the state prosecutor Galiullina D.D., as well as the appeals of lawyers V.P. Murashov. and Yuryeva M.V. on the verdict of the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow dated September 23, 2014, by which

Robu V., no previous convictions,

convicted under Art. 158 part 3 paragraph “c” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to 8 months of imprisonment in a general regime correctional colony. Serving of the sentence is calculated from April 11, 2014.

The verdict decided the fate of the material evidence in the case, and also recognized the right of the civil plaintiff B. to satisfy the civil claim for the recovery of material damage and moral damage with the transfer of the issue of the amount of compensation for consideration in civil proceedings.

After hearing the report of judge O.V. Rolgeiser, the speech of prosecutor E.V. Shembereva. and lawyer M.V. Yuryev, who partially supported the arguments of the appeal presentation, fully supported the arguments of the complaint filed in the interests of the victim, and asked to reject the appeal of lawyer V.P. Murashov; explanations of the convicted Robu V. and lawyer Murashov V.P., who supported the arguments of the latter’s appeal and objected to the satisfaction of the appeal and the complaint of the victim’s representative, the judicial panel

Protection mechanism

At the level of federal legislation, the procedure for implementing the program of social protection measures for victims and witnesses of crime is regulated. In accordance with the requirements of Federal Law 119, these activities must be carried out in several separate stages, each of which is carried out by a separate government body.

The first thing that needs to be done to begin protective measures is to collect written statements from the persons who will be under protection. Of course, without obtaining consent from the victim and witness to the crime, the use of protective measures is impossible;
Once consent has been obtained, the authorized government authorities must verify the application for protection. According to the law, they are given 3 working days to conduct such an event. Making a decision after this period is considered a violation of the law and may give rise to a complaint to a higher government body;
Based on the results of checking the received application, the specialist makes a decision to refuse to provide protective measures or to agree to apply such a support measure. In both cases, the applicant must receive a motivated letter, which reflects the reasons for making a particular decision;
If, as a result of checking the received application, the authorized body decides on the need to ensure the protection of the victim or witness, the relevant specialists begin preparations for these activities.

For reference: As practice shows, not all citizens are satisfied with the level of provision of this type of services from government bodies.
Of course, representatives of institutions praise themselves and say that such events are held at the highest level. However, experts agree that measures aimed at ensuring the safety of victims and witnesses in the Russian Federation are far from perfect.

Security features

Protection of a victim or witness of a criminal act on the territory of the Russian Federation cannot be carried out without the availability of appropriate material, technical or financial support.
According to the law, the acquisition of any necessary equipment required to ensure the safety of the victim of an accused person must be financed from the state budget.

The security system should monitor the correct use of funds and their intended destination.

Attention! According to the law, it is impossible to impose any costs on a person under protection.

It is for this reason that any financial demands that come from security agencies are illegal and can be appealed in court or another higher government body (for example, the prosecutor's office).

Help from a qualified lawyer

In such and similar cases, it is necessary to contact a qualified and experienced lawyer. According to Article 45 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Russia, lawyers can be representatives of the civil plaintiff, the injured party and the private prosecutor. In addition, according to the same article, relatives or any other person can act as a representative, but only if the plaintiff personally applies for his admission.

The lawyer, who is the representative of the victim party, has rights, therefore, according to his status, he has the right to demand that all other participants in the criminal process fulfill and fulfill their duties.

The lawyer protects the injured party from possible and probable arbitrariness of justice.

This is the essence of the specialized position of the victim-party lawyer during legal proceedings. He also has the right and opportunity to demand from all other participants in criminal proceedings to fulfill their duties in accordance with the law.

Situations can be different, and the rights of the victim are not always properly protected. In such cases, it is necessary to involve a qualified lawyer with experience and knowledge in the case.

Responsibility

Federal legislation of Russia regulates the basic elements of bringing to justice a person who is guilty of violating actions to ensure state protection.
In this case, both an official who failed to fulfill his duties and a protected citizen who refused to take any measures aimed at ensuring his safety may be held accountable.

For example, a victim or witness may be held liable in cases where he wants to sell, pledge or donate property that was received from the state in order to carry out measures aimed at protecting such a person.

Protection of the rights of victims during criminal proceedings

In Russian legislation, the rights of the party who suffered damage due to the party’s crimes are protected by current legislation. This is established by Article 52 of the Russian Constitution. The state, according to this article, must provide victims with full open access to the justice process, as well as compensation for possible moral and/or material damage.

1. A victim is an individual to whom a crime has caused physical, property, or moral harm, as well as a legal entity in the event that a crime causes damage to its property and business reputation. The decision to recognize a victim as a victim is made immediately from the moment of initiation of a criminal case and is formalized by a resolution of the inquiry officer, investigator, judge or a court ruling. If at the time of initiating a criminal case there is no information about the person who has been harmed by the crime, the decision to recognize him as a victim is made immediately after receiving information about this person.