The Investigative Committee of Russia will be allowed to conduct forensic examinations. Can an expert depend on an investigator?

Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a bill to the State Duma that gives new powers to the Investigative Committee. The agency will be allowed to engage in forensic examination.

Carrying out forensic examinations, according to the text of the document, will become one of the main tasks of the Investigative Committee. The agency will be allowed to have forensic units and forensic organizations, and investigators will be allowed to appoint and carry out forensic examinations.

The list of forensic examinations in the Investigative Committee will be limited

Here are the types of examinations listed in the bill:

• ballistic
• video technical
• fingerprint
• information and analytical
• computer technology
• linguistic
• medical-forensic
• molecular genetic
• fire-technical
• portrait
• handwriting
• psychophysiological (using a polygraph)
• construction and technical
• technical and forensic examination of documents
• traceological
• physico-chemical
• financial and analytical
• phonoscopic
• environmental
• examination of bladed weapons

The Investigative Committee itself will determine what is included in a particular examination. Here , for example, is how they did it in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Conducted. Since its creation, the Investigative Committee has had a main department of forensic science (forensic center), and its employees have been conducting forensic examinations for many years. At the beginning of 2018, the head of the department, Alexander Bastrykin, spoke about the creation of a corps of forensic experts : “Their specialization is forensic appraisal and construction and technical examinations, the conduct of which is required for highly professional expert support in the investigation of crimes of corruption and economic nature.”

Legal. Back in 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, by decree, allowed the Investigative Committee to engage in forensic activities and create expert units. But formally, he allowed the creation of forensic units for internal use, and not for conducting forensic examinations .

The fact is that a presidential decree cannot contradict federal law , which (so far) does not allow the investigative committee to engage in state forensic activities. Because the department is not a federal executive body. That is, the Investigative Committee cannot be entrusted with conducting a forensic examination.

Yes. For an examination, the investigator can contact either a specialized government agency or “other experts.” In fact, this “other expert” can be anyone. It is important that it meets two criteria :

• was not a state forensic expert
• had "special knowledge in the field of science, technology, art or craft"

Yes. These are ordinary employees of the Investigative Committee, whose job descriptions stipulate the conduct of forensic examinations. And the investigators formally turn for expertise not to the general forensic center, but to the employees as private individuals, and each time they re -explain their rights and responsibilities . The court has to decide each time whether such “other experts” of the Investigative Committee have the necessary qualifications .

The scheme turned out to be so unobvious that even the Supreme Court got confused in it. In September 2015, he mistakenly recognized an expert from the Investigative Committee as a state forensic expert and decided that he was obliged to certify his signatures on expert reports with a seal.

Should. Last year, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office also complained that the Investigative Committee’s criminologists are “administratively subordinate to the heads of investigative agencies.” This contradicts the Code of Criminal Procedure, which states that an expert must be independent of both the prosecution and the defense.

But, according to the Constitutional Court of Russia, everything is in order . In September 2015, the court decided that the Investigative Committee experts are not in official or other dependence on the Investigative Committee investigators. Because experts are responsible for giving false testimony, in some cases they can refuse to give an opinion for reasons and appeal the actions and decisions of investigators. Moreover, the defense may challenge the expert in court, including citing official dependence.

Yes. The State Duma has not rejected presidential initiatives for a very long time. The head of the relevant committee on security and anti-corruption has already promised to consider the bill as a priority.

Denis Dmitriev