Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify certain problematic issues of attorney’s participation in the initial stage of criminal proceedings; it is carried out from the perspective of due protection of rights of a person in respect of whom the crime report is being checked and of other participants of the proceedings. It is concluded that neither de facto detained individuals nor a self-reported suspect are provided adequate rights protection under Russian law. Such a conclusion follows from the analysis of Russian law on criminal procedure and its comparison to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case history. The law provides neither definition of a concept nor criteria for determining the person in respect of whom the crime report is being checked. The Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation does not specify the functions of an attorney in terms of their participation at the stage of investigation of a crime report. At the same time procedures for providing qualified legal assistance to a person in respect of whom preliminary investigation is conducted have not been revised and adapted. Therefore, as a result of the research a number of proposals to improve the criminal procedure legislation of Russia by introducing some amendments are propounded. It is proposed to specify the legal status of an attorney that is to provide clear regulations on the legal status of an attorney in the initial stage of criminal proceedings.