Danilova, L.S., Gromov, N.A., Kolesnikov, E.V. On improvement of legislative definition of evidence in the criminal process.

Abstract: The definition of evidence, as given by Art. 74 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation provides, that evidence is not the factual data (as it was stated in the CPC of RSFSR), but rather “any information, based on which, the court, the prosecutor, the investigator, the inquirer base their conclusions on absence or presence of conditions, subject to proving in a criminal case, as well as other matters of relevance for a criminal case”. While in some foreign states, there is no such thing as definition of evidence, in Russia it is not only necessary, but also is in need of improvement.