Video Conferencing as a Means of Evidence Formation: Problems of Integration into Criminal Proceedings

The author welcomes the long-awaited amendment to the Russian criminal procedure law that regulates the use of videoconferencing when conducting interrogations, confrontations, identifications at the stage of pre-trial proceedings, and draws attention to certain controversies in the contents of Art. 189.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. While considering such aspects as the absence of reference to the procedural status and other details of the person involved in the corresponding investigatory action, or the absence of a list of specific situations requiring a distance format, to be justified, the author believes that the Article under consideration provides insufficient information on a number of points necessary for ensuring successful cooperation and coordination of the actions of the subject of investigation working on a criminal case, and the person responsible for organizing and conducting investigative action in a distance format at the location of the criminal case’s participant. This situation prompted the author to offer recommendations regarding the possible solutions of the problems under discussion.