My own prosecutor

Witnesses and victims may be allowed to act as prosecutors

In the depths of the Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation, a bill is brewing, which its creators themselves call revolutionary. If the State Duma passes this law, amendments will be made to the Criminal Procedure Code to allow victims and witnesses to perform prosecutorial functions. “If the prosecutor’s office refuses part of the accusation, then the witness or victim can support it privately,” one of its developers, Deputy Valery Grebennikov, explained to journalists the essence of the bill. The purpose of innovations introduced into the criminal process is “to legalize the victim or witness, to make him a procedural figure.” In addition, the bill contains another interesting novelty: lawyers may be required to defend free of charge not only the accused, but also the victims.

As Deputy Grebennikov said, the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure are the fruit of the collective efforts of a working group, which, in addition to Duma members, included colleagues from the upper house, representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Public Chamber and non-governmental organizations. On the part of public organizations, the initiator of the development of the bill is the leader of the human rights movement “Resistance” Olga Kostina, who at one time held the post of adviser to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and subsequently served as a victim in the case of former Yukos security service functionary Alexei Pichugin.

According to Mr. Grebennikov, who holds the post of deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation, the document is already ready to be submitted to the State Duma. However, the head of the committee, Pavel Krasheninnikov, has not yet had time to familiarize himself with the text of the bill. “I can say for sure that the bill has not yet arrived in my mail,” the deputy told a Vremya Novostei correspondent. “Tomorrow, when I see Valery Vasilyevich Grebennikov, then he will share his thoughts, just as a doctor tells a doctor (both deputies have a doctorate in jurisprudence. - Ed. ).” True, according to Mr. Krasheninnikov, the area in which the victim can act as a private prosecutor is relatively small. “Theoretically, stories are possible when a person is slandered right in court, insulted or used physical force,” the deputy explained. - Processes can be complex, and I do not rule out such cases. Whether this happens often or not is another question. In my opinion, no, not often.”

Mikhail MOSHKIN