Anna Polin
Master TSIL.
Prospects
for the introduction of the institute summary proceedings to the legislation of
the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The objectives of the criminal
proceedings under Article 2 of the CPC of the Republic of Uzbekistan are:
- Rapid and full disclosure of
crimes;
- Expose the perpetrators;
- Ensuring the correct application
of the law so that everyone who commits a crime, was subjected to a just
punishment and no innocent person has been prosecuted and convicted.
In addition, the established
criminal-procedural legislation of the procedure in criminal cases should help
to strengthen the rule of law, prevent crime, protect the interests of the
individual, the state and society.
The above problems are solved
sometimes by the use of coercive measures against the persons suspected,
accused, defendants and other parties to the proceedings, it does not always
apply the measures have a positive result for the warring parties. For example,
at the end of the trial, the defendant does not agree with the verdict of the
court, or vice versa the victim does not agree with the sentence, etc. On the
other side of the criminal process struggling with such anti-social phenomenon
as a crime, uses rigorous methods and techniques at a resolution of criminal
cases is justified. However, in practice, it became possible to resolve the
dispute through "agreement" the parties. As we know, in practice,
such "agreement" of the opposing sides seen with the Institute of
reconciliation. In many countries, as noted above, the agreement of the
opposing sides can be seen with the consent of the accused to the indictment
(Spain, France, Italy, Germany, USA, Russian Federation (since 2001)),
and other countries, although the order of application of this form of justice
is different, its essence lies in the fact that, with the consent of the
prosecutor, the victim, the accused (with the assistance of counsel),
acknowledging his guilt, the request for summary judgment proceeding in which,
absent a judicial investigation and the judge passes sentence of punishment. Is
it possible to impart this institution in our legislation?
Traditionally, the Republic of
Uzbekistan resolution of criminal proceedings in a court of first instance in a
general way sequentially through several stages (preparatory part of the
hearing, the judicial investigation, pleadings, the defendant's last word, and
so on). Each stage requires strict compliance with procedural requirements
prescribed in the relevant rules of criminal procedure.
Here is an example. So during the
trial questioned the accused and the victim, witnesses and experts who examined
the evidence. If necessary, other legal actions are made. Moreover, these
actions the court shall, regardless of whether the defendant contests his guilt
or he fully agrees with the charges against him. This cumbersome and
complicated procedure for judicial resolution of criminal cases, not only
requires significant material cost of the state, but also severely limits the
ability to "timely" in criminal cases by the courts, leading to a
systematic violation of due process of consideration by the judges and the
resolution of criminal cases, the diversion of a large number of people
(witnesses professionals, victims, experts, etc.) from the basic work for a period
of consideration by the court of criminal proceedings. But the simplification
of the proceedings may not in all cases, as, for example, complex criminal
cases or particularly grave crimes thorough observance of this procedure is
justified because it promotes respect for the principles of lawfulness,
fairness, objectivity and validity of decisions taken by the court, the rights
and lawful interests of individuals and organizations, victims of crime,
protecting the individual from unlawful and unreasonable charges, etc.
What has been said in any case does
not mean that the simplification of the proceedings on certain categories of
cases, compliance with these principles does not occur. Court with the consent
of the parties may, without causing damage to the rule of law and justice,
reasonableness and fairness, the final decision, and without complying with
certain procedural requirements, often wearing formal. Institute for simplified
proceedings originated long ago, was in many countries, legislative strengthening.
Since the legislation of many countries (Russia, USA and other European
countries)
regulates the grounds and conditions under which a court may decide on the case
of a sentence without trial in a general manner, the simplified procedure of legal
proceedings. According to article 314 of chapter 40 of the Criminal Procedure
Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter - the Code), if the defendant
committed the crime, the punishment for which is in accordance with the
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not exceed 10 years in prison, and
not contesting the charges against him, filed a motion on the application for a
special order of the trial, the judge with the consent of the public (private),
the prosecutor and the victim and there are reasons and conditions set forth in
the rules of chapter 40 of the Code shall be entitled to decide on such a case
the verdict without trial in a general way.
It should be noted, a special
procedure for trial, represents a new Criminal Procedure Institute, aimed at
simplifying the procedures for judicial review and resolution of criminal cases
in particular categories of cases. Use of this institution of criminal
procedure allows us to solve some problems:
- To save power and money of
criminal justice officials to investigate crimes and criminal proceedings for
certain categories of cases;
- To persuade the accused
(defendant) to cooperate with the criminal prosecution and use it to expose the
crimes of other participants, quickly and with minimal cost to solve a crime,
to establish all the circumstances of its commission, etc. - to reduce the gap
in time from the date of the offense to making a final decision;
- To streamline the criminal
proceedings, to make the process less time-consuming and more efficient.
The above list shows the tasks that
the basis of a special institution of the order of the trial based on the idea,
as pointed out by Rybalov KA "A reasonable compromise in criminal
proceedings." What is expressed in such a compromise? In the simplified
production legislator guarantees the accused (defendant) significant
concessions in exchange for a commission of certain positive actions. Thus, in
accordance with Art. of Art. 314-316 of the Code, if the defendant committed
the crime of slight, moderate or heavy, during the preliminary investigation
has pleaded guilty to the crime and does not challenge the charges against him,
the court on the basis of his application and with the consent of the parties
shall consider the case of a simplified procedure for the trial and assigns the
punishment the defendant, not exceeding two thirds the size of the maximum term
or the most severe penalty under the relevant rule of the Criminal Code.
Externally Institute special order
making the judgment is similar to the "plea bargain" that exists in
the Anglo-Saxon law, but they are fundamentally different from each other.
Comparative analysis of the legislation of foreign states, which contain the
rules laid down the "plea bargain", held in their articles, Stephen
Teyman. He explored similar procedures available in Spain, France, Italy,
Germany, the USA and came to the conclusion that the basic idea embodied in the
"plea bargain" is a shortening and simplifying the investigation of
the case study forms of evidence.
The problem of summary judgment
scientists - show interest, and among them there are both opponents and
supporters. In my opinion, the use of the Institute of Criminal Procedure as a
simplified legal proceedings with the consent of the accused with the accusation
against him is aimed at improving the efficiency of criminal prosecution, and
the efficiency is determined by how well and timely manner possible to protect
the rights and lawful interests of citizens to ensure equity, social stability
and legitimacy of the state. In addition, the Institute promotes the expansion
of early dispositive in criminal proceedings, giving the accused the right to
exercise discretion and to express their will. Given the above, we can conclude
that there need to conduct prospective studies aimed at creating a new
institution of summary judgment proceedings in order to improve our criminal
procedure law.
To date, it is no secret that the
courts are very busy due to the large number of cases, the use of simplified
forms of the same procedure will reduce the load of ships, but this goal is not
paramount. Of course the main purpose is to protect human rights and freedoms,
regardless of what party he is a criminal trial. By choosing the path of
building a democratic state and strong civil society, we thus recognize that
the highest value is human, his rights and freedoms. By providing the right to
request a summary judgment, discretionary increases the criminal process, which
is expressed in the accused the right to exercise discretion and to express
their will.
There is a scientific opinion that
the establishment of human rights protection system, including in criminal
cases, requires a certain sequence of actions, it is important that the
criminal process, there was no advantage to either side. The reconciliation of
the parties, the protection of human rights and personal interests of the
victim, civil plaintiff, suspect, accused or civil defendant should be the
same, on an equal footing, since "all men are born free and equal in dignity
and rights" (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).