Defender Activities on Presenting the Opinion of Expert in Criminal Cases

Abstract

The article deals with the issues of attracting an expert by a defender in the process of criminal case proving. The modern criminal process, taking into account the state of crime, involves the use of special knowledge in the process of crime detection, and investigation and a criminal case consideration. Given the adversarial nature of legal proceedings, the need to ensure the right to a fair trial, a defense party must have similar opportunities in the process of proving that the prosecution has, and therefore the ability of the defender to turn to an expert for assistance in the field of special knowledge is one of the guarantees of the right to defense. However, the current criminal procedural legislation of Russia provides for the participation as a defense counsel not only of a lawyer, but also other persons who are allowed by a court order, in connection with which the issues arise about the possibility of a defense counsel - another person seeking help from an expert, but the legislation left the specified issue unsettled. The international community has developed the documents that contain generally recognized legal norms in the field of lawyer assistance regulation. The legal approaches developed by the international community are interconnected and complement each other, while they serve as a certain guideline for bringing national legislation in line with international requirements. The implementation of the right to effective judicial protection ensures the observance of the rights of participants in criminal proceedings. Based on the analysis of international legal acts and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, they revealed the features of the right to protection implementation during the administration of justice, depending on national legislation. Ensuring the right to defense through the involvement of a lawyer or other person as a defense counsel at the request (a petition) of an accused is a guarantee of the lawyer rights, allows for high-quality and efficient evidence in a criminal case.