The Constitutional Court banned the investigation of criminal cases indefinitely. Until changes are made to the codes, the investigation after this point cannot continue for more than 12 months.
The Constitutional Court of Russia, within the framework of the powers granted to it by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, considered the complaint of the entrepreneur Vyacheslav Rudnikov and declared unconstitutional Part 2 of Art. 27 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation and paragraph "c" part 1 of Art. 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in conjunction, to the extent that they allow an endless investigation of the case. This means that they should not be applied in practice, and the legislator needs to make appropriate changes to the codes, the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation immediately enters into force and is not subject to appeal. The decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the complaint of V. Rudnikov was issued on July 18, 2022 and published on the official website of the court.
V. Rudnikov filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, as he considered that the norms of the law in interaction contradict the Constitution and do not allow citizens to fully exercise their rights. So, p. Art. 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes that the statute of limitations for bringing to criminal responsibility for a serious crime is 10 years, after their expiration, the person is released from liability ("in" Part 1).
However, Part 3 of Art. 27 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation does not allow the termination of the prosecution, including due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, in the absence of the consent of the accused. But this ground is considered in practice to be non-rehabilitating, that is, formal (by law, but not "in good conscience"), not excluding negative consequences in the form of satisfaction of a civil claim, for example.
Therefore, V. Rudnikov did not agree to the termination of the case against himself, but applied for the termination of the case due to the absence of corpus delicti, however, it was not satisfied and the appeal process did not give any results. The law also states that in the absence of the consent of a citizen to terminate the case on this non-rehabilitating ground, it continues, and the deadlines for the investigation are not specified.
The Constitutional Court considered that this is a legal uncertainty, and no one should be under the threat of being held accountable for an unlimited amount of time. And a non-guilty person should not be forced to choose to dismiss on non-rehabilitating grounds in order to avoid this threat. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared these legal norms unconstitutional in conjunction when they allow endless criminal prosecution after the statute of limitations has expired. Until changes are made to the codes, the investigation after this point cannot continue for more than 12 months. If the case is not brought to court, it is terminated.
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