Participants to the Criminal Proceedings on the Side of the Prosecution in the Criminal Proceedings of the Russian Federation

Abstract

A participant to the criminal proceedings is a person who is authorized by procedural rights and obligations to perform criminal procedural actions and enter into criminal procedural relations with other participants in the process of exercising their rights and obligations. Certain common features are characteristic of all the participants to the criminal proceedings: a) the law assigns them certain procedural rights and obligations, which is why they can enter into criminal procedural relations with each other and perform criminal procedural actions, and b) they must have a legitimate interest in the criminal proceedings. In addition, the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation prescribes certain requirements that participants to the proceedings must meet. Thus, an expert can only be a person who has a special knowledge (in science, technology, art, craft) and who is appointed in accordance with the procedural law for conducting court expert examination and giving opinions (Article 57 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation). The requirement for participation of a person as attesting witness is that he must not have an interest in the criminal case (Article 60 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation). This paper analyses the participants to the criminal proceedings on the side of the prosecution (the injured party, the civil prosecutor, the private prosecutor and the representatives of the injured party, the civil prosecutor and the private prosecutor).