PARTICIPATION OF WITNESSES IN INFORMATION SUPPORT OF PRE-TRIAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

It is noted that the activity of law enforcement agencies in providing information support for the disclosure of criminal offenses takes place in difficult conditions. The tools of cognitive investigative activity do not always correspond to changes in the nature and structure of criminal activity. With a purpose of ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of persons involved in criminal proceedings and preventing possible abuse by the investigator or other persons conducting the investigation, the institute of public participation (witnesses) in conducting procedural actions aimed at forming court evidence is preserved. The authors analyse the normative regulation of the process of involving the public in criminal proceedings starting from the Lithuanian statutes to the present day. It is emphasized that at the initial stage of development of the institute of witnesses, outsiders were invited to participate in procedural actions related to receiving information from people (interrogations), as the police had more opportunities to falsify testimony through illegal actions. The authors analyse the opinions of supporters and opponents of retaining or cancelling the institute of witnesses in criminal proceedings. The authors question the proposed condition for abandoning the institute of witnesses, which involves a gradual change in the legal mindset of citizens who should see the investigator as a person whose activities are aimed at establishing objective truth, protecting their rights and legitimate interests. Doubts are expressed about the possibility of expecting witnesses to create the necessary conditions for the objective and correct conduct of investigative actions and consolidation of evidence. It is noted that this should be the prerogative of the investigator, and the recruitment and invitation of witnesses is the creation of appropriate conditions for achieving the objectives of a particular procedural action. The authors substantiate the proposals to complement Chapter 3 of the current CPC of Ukraine with an article on such a participant in criminal proceedings as a witness, defining the general requirements that such a participant must meet, the list of persons who cannot be involved as witnesses, their rights and obligations, and the right of participants to the investigative action to challenge a witness, if the grounds for this are established.