- Part One. General Provisions
- Section I. Basic Provisions
- Section II. Participants in the Criminal Court Proceedings
- Chapter 5. The Court
- Chapter 6. Participants in the Criminal Court Proceedings on the Side of the Prosecution
- Chapter 7. Participants in the Criminal Court Proceedings on the Side of the Defence
- Chapter 8. Other Participants in the Criminal Court Proceedings
- Chapter 9. Circumstances, Precluding the Participation in Criminal Court Proceedings
- Section III. Proof and Proving
- Section IV. Measures of Procedural Coercion
- Section V. Petitions and Complaints
- Section VI. Other Provisions
- Part Two. Pre-Trial Proceedings
- Section VII. Institution of a Criminal Case
- Section VIII. Preliminary Inquisition
- Chapter 21. General Terms for the Preliminary Inquisition
- Chapter 22. Preliminary Investigation
- Chapter 23. Bringing to Court the Accused. Bringing the Charge
- Chapter 24. Examination. Inspection. Investigative Experiment
- Chapter 25. Search. Seizure. Putting the Postal and Telegraph Messages under Arrest. Monitoring and Recording of Discussions
- Chapter 26. Interrogation. Identification Line-Up. Identification. Verification of the Evidence
- Chapter 27. Carrying Out a Court Examination
- Chapter 29. Termination of a Criminal Case
- Chapter 30. Forwarding a Criminal Case with the Conclusion of Guilt to the Prosecutor
- Chapter 31. Prosecutor's Actions and Decisions on a Criminal Case, Resultingin a Conclusion of Guilt
- Chapter 32. The Inquest
- Part Three. Court Proceedings
- Section IX. Proceedings in a Court of the First Instance
- Chapter 33. General Procedure of Preparation for a Court Session
- Chapter 34. Preliminary Hearing
- Chapter 35. General Conditions for the Judicial Proceedings
- Chapter 36. Preparatory Part of a Court Session
- Chapter 37. Judicial Investigation
- Chapter 38. Parties' Presentations and the Last Plea of the Defendant
- Chapter 39. Passing the Sentence
- Section X. Special Order of the Judicial Proceedings
- Section XI. Specifics of the Proceedings for a Justice of the Peace
- Section XII. Specifics of the Proceedings in a Court with the Participation of Jurors
- Section XIII. Proceedings in a Court of the Second Instance
- Section XIV. Execution of the Sentence
- Section XV. Revision of the Sentences, Rulings and Resolutions, Which Have Come into Legal Force
- Section IX. Proceedings in a Court of the First Instance
- Part Four. Special Order of the Criminal Court Proceedings
- Part Five. International Cooperation in the Sphere of Criminal Court Proceedings
- Section XVIII. Procedure for the Interaction of Courts, Prosecutors, Investigators and the Inquest Bodies with the Corresponding Competent Bodies and Officials of Foreign States and with International Organizations
- Chapter 53. Principal Provisions on the Procedure for the Interaction of the Courts, Prosecutors, Investigators and the Inquest Bodies with the Corresponding Competent Bodies and Officials of Foreign States and with International Organizations
- Chapter 54. Extradition of a Person for the Criminal Prosecution or for the Execution of the Sentence
- Chapter 55. Handing Over the Person Sentenced to the Deprivation of Freedom, for Serving the Sentence in the State of Which He Is a Citizen
- Section XVIII. Procedure for the Interaction of Courts, Prosecutors, Investigators and the Inquest Bodies with the Corresponding Competent Bodies and Officials of Foreign States and with International Organizations
- Part Six. Forms of Procedural Documents
CRIMINAL-PROCEDURAL CODE (with the Amendments and Additions of May 29, July 24, 25, October 31, 2002, June 30, July 4, 7, December 8, 2003, April 22, June 29, December 2, 28, 2004, June 1, 2005)
This Code comes into force as of July 1, 2002, with the exception of the provisions, for which other dates and procedure for putting into operation are established by Federal Law No. 177-FZ of December 18, 2001
Passed by the State Duma on November 22, 2001
Approved by the Federation Council on December 5, 2001
Part One. General Provisions
Section I. Basic Provisions
Chapter 1. Criminal-Procedural Legislation Article 1. Laws Defining the Procedure for Criminal Court Proceedings Article 2. Operation of the Criminal Procedural Law in Space Article 3. Operation of the Criminal Procedural Law with Respect to Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons Article 4. Operation of the Criminal-Procedural Law in Time
In proceedings conducted in a criminal case, there shall be applied criminal-procedural law, operating during the performance of the corresponding procedural action or during the adoption of a procedural decision, unless otherwise is established by the present Code.
Article 5. Principal Concepts Used in this Code
Unless otherwise specified, the principal concepts, used in the present Code, shall have the following meaning:
1) alibi - the suspect's or the accused person's being in a different place at the moment when the crime is committed;
2) appeals instance - the court examining criminal cases on appeal upon complaints and presentations, filed against the sentences and rulings of the court which have not yet come into legal force;
3) close persons - other persons not including close relatives and relations maintaining a relationship with the victim or with the witness, as well as persons, whose life, health and welfare mean a lot to the victim or to the witness because of existing personal relations;
4) close relatives - husband, wife, parents, children, adopters, the adopted, blood brothers and sisters, grandfather, grandmother and grandchildren;
5) verdict - the decision as to whether the man on trial is guilty or not guilty, passed by a college of jurors; 6) public prosecutor - an official of the prosecutor's office acting for the prosecution in the name of the state in a court hearing of a criminal case, and on the prosecutor's instructions and in cases when the preliminary investigation has been completed in the form of an enquiry - also an enquirer or investigator;
7) enquirer - an official of the body of enquiry, possessing the legal right or authorized by the head of the body of enquiry to conduct the preliminary inquisition in the form of an inquest, and also the other powers specified in the present Code;
8) enquiry - the form of the preliminary inquisition, carried out by the enquirer (investigator) on a criminal case for which the conducting of the preliminary investigation is not obligatory;
9) pre-trial procedure - criminal court proceedings as from the moment of receiving a communication on the crime up until the prosecutor directing the criminal case to the court to be examined on the merits;
10) living quarters - an individual dwelling house with all the residential and non-residential premises included with it, living premises regardless of form of ownership, included in the housing fund and used for permanent or temporary residence, as well as some other building or structure, not included into the housing fund but used as a temporary residence;
11) detention of the suspect - the measure of the procedural coercion, applied by the body of inquiry, by the inquirer, the investigator or the prosecutor for a term of not over 48 hours as from the moment of the actual detention of the person on the suspicion of his having committed a crime;
11.1) a court's opinion - a conclusion on the presence or absence of components of a crime in actions of the person in respect of which special criminal proceedings are applicable;
12) legal representatives - the parents, adopters, guardians or trustees of a minor suspect, of the accused or of the victim and the representatives of the institutions or organizations into whose care the minor suspect, the accused or the victim is placed, agencies of custody and guardianship;
13) selection of a measure of restriction - the adoption by the inquirer, the investigator or the prosecutor, as well as by the court, of the decision on the measure of restriction with respect to the suspect orto the accused;
14) cassation instance - the court examining on appeal criminal cases upon the complaints and presentations against the sentences, rulings and resolutions of the first instance and of the appeals instance court, which have not yet entered into legal force; 14.1) control over telephone and other talks - tapping and recording conersations by using any communication means, examination of, and listening to, phonograms;
15) moment of the actual detention - the moment when the person, suspected of committing a crime, is actually deprived of the freedom of movement in conformity with the procedure, established by the present Code;
16) supervisory instance - the court, considering criminal cases by way of supervision upon the complaints and presentations against sentences, rulings and resolutions of the courts, which have entered into legal force;
17) head of a body of inquest - the official of a body of inquest, including deputy head of a body of inquest authorized to give orders to carry out an inquest and urgently investigative actions provided for by this Code;
18) head of the investigation department - the official, leading the corresponding investigation subdivision, as well as his deputy;
19) urgent investigative actions - the actions performed by the body of inquiry after the institution of a criminal case, for which a preliminary investigation is obligatory, in order to expose and fix the signs of the crime, as well as the proof requiring an immediate certification, seizure and study;
20) non-complicity - the unestablished complicity or the established non-complicity of the person in the perpetration of a crime;
21) night time - an interval of time from 22:00 to 6:00 local time;
22) charge - the statement about the perpetration by a definite person of an action, prohibited by criminal law, put forward in accordance with the procedure established by the present Code;
23) ruling - any kind of decision, with the exception of a sentence, collectively passed by the first instance court in conducting legal proceedings on a criminal case, as well as the decision passed by a higher placed court, with the exception of the court of appeals or of the supervisory instance, when the corresponding court decision is revised;
24) bodies of inquiry - state bodies and officials authorized in conformity with the present Code to carry out an inquest and to exercise other procedural powers;
25) resolution - any kind of decision, with the exception of the sentence, passed by a judge on his own; the decision, passed by the presidium of the court when the court decision, which has come into legal force, is revised; the decision of the prosecutor, investigator or inquirer, taken when carrying out a preliminary investigation, with the exception of the conclusion of guilt or a bill of indictment;
26) president of the court - the judge who is leading a court session in the collegiate examination of a criminal case, as well as the judge, considering a criminal case on his own;
27) presentation - the act of the prosecutor's response to the court decision, made in accordance with the procedure established by the present Code;
28) sentence - the decision on whether the person on trial is or is not guilty, or on his relief from the punishment, passed by the court of the first or of the appeals instance;
29) application of a measure of restriction - the procedural actions, performed as from the moment of adopting the decision on selecting a measure of restriction and until it is cancelled or modified;
30) juror - the person, drawn into the participation in the court proceedings and into delivering a verdict in conformity with the procedure, established by the present Code;
31) prosecutor - the Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation and the prosecutors in his/her subordination, as well as their deputies and other officials of a prosecutor's office participating in criminal court proceedings and vested with relevant powers by the federal law on the prosecutor's office;
32) procedural action - an investigatory, judicial or another action, stipulated by the present Code;
33) procedural decision - the decision adopted by the court, by the prosecutor, the investigator or the inquirer in accordance with the procedure, established by the present Code;
34) rehabilitation - the procedure for the reinstatement of the person, who has been unlawfully or groundlessly subjected to the criminal prosecution, in his rights and freedoms, and for the compensation of the harm done to him;
35) rehabilitated person - the person who possesses, in conformity with the present Code, the right to the recompense of the harm done to him in connection with an unlawful or a groundless criminal prosecution;
36) retort - an observation, made by the participant in the parties' presentations concerning the arguments voiced by the other participants;
36.1) results of operative search activities - data gained in compliance with the federal law on operative search activities, on the signs of a crime which is being prepared, committed or has been already committed, on persons who are preparing, committing or have committed a crime and have hidden from bodies of inquiry and investigation or from judicial bodies;
37) relations - all the other persons, except for the close relatives, related in kinship;
38) investigative measures - the measures, taken on the inquirer's or the investigator's orders by the inquirer or the investigator, as well as by the body of inquiry, for the identification of the person, suspected of committing a crime;
39) sanction - the prosecutor's permission (consent) to carrying out by the inquirer or by the investigator the corresponding investigative and other procedural actions, and to their adopting procedural decisions;
40) witness's immunity - the right of the person not to give evidence against himself and against his close relatives and also in the other cases specified in the present Code;
41) investigator - the official, authorized to conduct the preliminary investigation on a criminal case and also the other powers specified in the present Code;
42) holding in custody - keeping the person detained on suspicion of committing a crime, or of the accused, towards whom is applied a measure of restriction in the form of being put under arrest, into an investigatory isolation ward or into some other place, defined by the federal law;
43) communication on a crime - the statement about a crime, the surrender or the report on the exposure of a crime;
44) specialized institution for the minors - the specialized state body providing for the reformation of minors, set up in conformity with federal law;
45) parties - the participants in criminal court proceedings discharging on the competitive principle the function of the accusation (of the criminal prosecution) or of the defence from the accusation;
46) party of the defence - the accused as well as his legal representative, the counsel for the defence, the civil defendant and his legal representative and representative;
47) party of the prosecution - the prosecutor, as well as the investigator, chief of investigation department, the inquirer, the private prosecutor, the victim, his legal representative and representative, the civil claimant and his representative; 48) court - any kind of the court of the general jurisdiction, examining a criminal case on the merits and passing decisions, stipulated by the present Code;
49) court examination - an expert examination, performed in accordance with the procedure, established by the present Code;
50) court session - the procedural form for administering justice in the course of the pre-trial and the court procedure on a criminal case;
51) judicial proceedings - a court session of the courts of the first, the second and the supervisory instances;
52) first instance court - the court, examining a criminal case on the merits and legally authorized to pass the sentence and to take decisions in the course of the pre-trial procedure on a criminal case;
53) second instance court - the courts of the appeals and of the cassation instances;
54) judge - the official authorized to administer justice;
55) criminal prosecution - procedural activity, performed by the party of the prosecution and aimed at the exposure of the suspect or the accused in committing the crime;
56) criminal court proceedings - the pre-trial and the court procedure on a criminal case;
57) criminal law - the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
58) participants in criminal court proceedings - the persons taking part in the criminal process;
59) private prosecutor - the victim or his legal representative and representative in the criminal cases of the private prosecution;
60) expert institution - the state forensic-medical expert examination or other institution, to which is entrusted the carrying out of the court examination in accordance with the procedure, laid down by the present Code.
Chapter 2. Principles of the Criminal Court Proceedings Article 6. Purpose of the Criminal Court Proceedings
1. The criminal court proceedings are aimed at:
1) protecting the rights and the lawful interests of the persons and organizations, who (which) have suffered from the crimes;
2) protecting the person from unlawful and ungrounded accusations and conviction, and from the restriction of his rights and freedoms.
2. The criminal prosecution and the administration of the just punishment to the guilty persons shall correspond to the purpose of the criminal court proceedings in the same measure as the refusal from the criminal prosecution of the non-guilty ones, their relief from the punishment and the rehabilitation of everyone, who has been groundlessly subjected to criminal prosecution.
Article 7. Legality in the Criminal Court Procedure
According to Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 13-P of June 29, 2004, recognized the first and the second parts of Article 7 of the present Code as not contradicting the Constitution of the Russian Federation, inasmuch as the provisions, contained in them - in accordance with their legal constitutional meaning in the system of the currently operating legal regulation - do not imply the resolution of possible collisions between the present Code and any other federal constitutional laws, and are spread only upon the cases, when the provisions of the other federal laws, directly regulating the order of the procedure on criminal cases, contradict the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation Article 8. Administration of Justice by the Court Alone Article 9. Respect of the Person's Honour and Dignity Article 10. Immunity of the Person Article 11. Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen in Criminal Court Proceedings Article 12. Inviolability of Living Quarters Article 13. Privacy of Correspondence, Telephone and Other Talks, of Postal, Telegraph and Other Communications Article 14. Presumption of Innocence Article 15. Parties' Adversarial Nature Article 16. Guaranteeing the Right to the Defence for the Suspect and for the Accused Article 17. Freedom in the Assessment of Proof Article 18. Language of the Criminal Court Proceedings Article 19. Right to File Appeals Against Procedural Actions and Decisions Chapter 3. Criminal Prosecution
Article 20. Kinds of the Criminal Prosecution Article 21. Liability of Conducting Criminal Prosecution Article 22. Victim's Right to Participate in the Criminal Prosecution
The victim, his legal representative and/or his representative shall have the right to take part in the criminal prosecution of the accused, and as concerns the criminal cases of the private prosecution - to put forward and to support the prosecution in accordance with the procedure established by the present Code.
Article 23. Involvement in the Criminal Prosecution upon Application of a Commercial or Other Organisation
If an act envisaged by Chapter 23 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has inflicted damage upon the interests of an exclusively commercial or of another kind of organisation that is not a state or a municipal enterprise, while not inflicting a damage upon the interests of other organisations or upon the interests of the citizens, of the society or of the state, the criminal case shall be instituted upon application from the head of the given organization or with his consent.
Chapter 4. Grounds for Refusal of the Institution of a Criminal Case and for Article 24. Grounds for Refusal to Institute a Criminal Case or to Terminate a Criminal Case
1. A criminal case cannot be instituted, and or instituted criminal case shall be subject to termination on the following grounds:
1) absence of the event of a crime;
2) absence of the corpus delicti in the act;
3) expiry of the deadlines for criminal prosecution;
4) death of the suspect or of the accused, with the exception of cases when the proceedings on the criminal case are necessary for the rehabilitation of the deceased;
5) absence of the victim's application, if the criminal case may be instituted only upon his application, with the exception of cases envisaged by the fourth part of Article 20 of the present Code;
6) lack of a court statement as to the availability of elements of crime in the actions of one of the persons mentioned in Items 1, 3 - 5, 9 and 10 of Part 1 of Article 448 of the present Code or lack of the consent of the Federation Council, the State Duma, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the qualification college of judges respectively to the opening of a criminal case or prosecution as the accused of one of the persons mentioned in Items 1 and 3-5 of Part 1 of Article 448 of the present Code. Article 25. Termination of a Criminal Case in Connection with the Parties' Reconciliation
The court, the prosecutor, as well as the investigator and the inquirer with the consent of the prosecutor, shall have the right to terminate the criminal case on the ground of an application, filed by the victim or by his legal representative, for the termination of the criminal case with respect to the person, suspected of or charged with committing a crime of a minor or of an ordinary gravity, in the cases specified in Article 76 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, if this person has reconciled with the victim and has recompensed the damage he has inflicted upon the latter.
Article 26. Abolished
Article 27. Grounds for Termination of the Criminal Prosecution
1. The criminal prosecution with respect to the suspect and to the accused shall be stopped on the following grounds:
1) non-involvement of the suspect and of the accused in the perpetration of the crime;
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
NO. 174-FZ OF DECEMBER 18, 2001
Termination of Criminal Case or Criminal Prosecution