Balakshin, V.S. The institution of returning criminal cases for additional investigations: pro and contra arguments

Abstract: The article concerns the problems of return of the institution of additional investigation into the current Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation. The published articles of the authors speaking against the institution of return of cases by the court for the additional investigation provide only the arguments against preservation of this institution. This article offers a more objective analysis of positive and negative features of this institution. The author provides detailed analysis of the positions of such authors, as B.Y. Gavrilov, V.A. Lazarev, etc., providing counter-arguments in support of the need to provide for the institution of return of cases by the court for the additional investigation in the criminal procedural legislation. The author expresses some ideas after studying the existing grounds for return of cases by the court for the additional investigation, offering to formulate other grounds, allowing for the correction of mistakes and violations by the investigative bodies within the reasonable period of time. The comparative analysis of the Charter of Criminal Judicial Proceedings of 1864 and the current criminal procedural legislation involves the methods of historic analysis and comparative legal studies. The article formulates additional arguments in favor for the return of the institution of the additional investigation into the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation. Based upon the analysis of the arguments of the authors calling for the abolition of this institution in the Russian procedural law, the author provides theoretical and logical arguments proving the possibility and need for reanimation of this institution in the Russian criminal procedural law. These conclusions are supported by the statistics on return of criminal cases by the courts, when in the course of additional investigation the violations were eliminated and the rights and interests of participants of the process were restores, so the case was resolved by a court within the reasonable period of time. The conclusion is that there is need for an in depth study of this institution and clarification of the grounds for the of return of cases by the court for the additional investigation in the Russian criminal process.

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