Impact and Consequences of COVID-19 on Criminal Proceedings in the Russian Federation

Abstract

In the present study, the authors draw attention to the impact and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on criminal proceedings. The authors consider what consequences the pandemic had on the work of the courts, the investigation officers, as well as the authorities executing the court decision on the detention of accused persons. Among the unfavourable consequences, which influenced the criminal proceedings, are the violation of the accused's right to attorney; the impossibility to provide the accused with qualified legal assistance due to the self-isolation of lawyers and quarantine measures prohibiting their entry into the pretrial detention centers; the refusal of investigation officers to postpone the investigative actions because of lawyer’s default due to self-isolation; postponement of court proceedings and the extension of the term of the criminal trials and others. The authors suggest ways to solve the problem in case of recurrent situation, in particular, they propose to provide for provisions at the legislative level to regulate criminal proceedings in the conditions of pandemic, noting a multifaceted approach to solving the problem in order to balance the rights and legitimate interests of the accused and to comply with the norms of criminal procedure legislation. It is necessary to change the attitude towards the pretrial detention as a preventive measure and choose other alternative preventive measures in the context of a pandemic in order to unload the pretrial detention centers and protect the health of both the employees of the pretrial detention center and the persons detained there. Besides, it is necessary to convert criminal proceedings into electronic format and implement modern digital technologies, which allow to limit communication between participants of criminal proceedings as much as possible and provide exchange of procedural documents within the framework of electronic document circulation.