Powers of the investigating judge in criminal proceedings

            According to the CPC of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a judge and an investigating judge are identified by their procedural status and differ only in cases and materials assigned to their jurisdiction. Thus, article 53 of the CPC (Judge) lists the general powers of the court as a judicial authority. Among them are those that relate exclusively to the powers of the investigating judge. Only two articles are devoted to the procedural activities of the investigating judge in the draft CPC: 55 (powers), 56 (general conditions for exercising powers). According to article 55 of the CPC, the investigating judge acts only at the pre-trial stages of criminal proceedings and, in cases provided for by the CPC, considers: A) petitions for the authorization of the following procedural actions: 1) detention; 2) house arrest; 3) extradition arrest; 4) extension of terms of detention, house arrest, extradition arrest; 5) application of bail; 6) seizure of property; 7) forced placement of a person who is not in custody in a medical organization for conducting a forensic psychiatric and/or forensic medical examination, as well as when applying security measures to persons who have committed acts prohibited by criminal law and suffering from mental illness, placement of a minor suspect or accused in a special children's institution; 8) transfer of a person who has previously been detained to a special medical organization providing psychiatric care adapted for keeping patients in strict isolation, upon establishing the fact of mental illness of this person.;

Powers of the investigating judge in criminal proceedings

9) exhumation of the corpse; 10) announcement of an international search for the suspect, the accused. The list of actions and decisions sanctioned by the court, more precisely, by the investigating judge, in the new edition of the CPC is supplemented with only three: seizure of property; exhumation of a corpse; announcement of an international search for a suspect, accused. As a result, it can be stated that judicial control in pre-trial criminal proceedings does not apply to a number of actions that significantly affect and restrict the constitutional rights of citizens and organizations. As before, their proceedings are sanctioned by the prosecutor or no one. In the legislation of many countries, including the CIS countries, the authorization of actions or decision-making on issues significantly affecting human rights and freedoms is entirely transferred to the competence of the investigating judge. For example, in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the competence of the investigating judge includes:

detention of a person for the purpose of bringing him;

the use of the drive of a person who did not appear on a call without a valid reason;

imposition of a monetary penalty for non-fulfillment of procedural duties; temporary restriction on the use of a special right and extension of the restriction period;

removal from office and extension of suspension;

temporary access to things and documents to a party to criminal proceedings provided by the person in possession of such things and documents, the opportunity to get acquainted with them, make copies of them and, if an appropriate decision is made by the investigating judge or court, to seize them (to seize them).

temporary seizure of property and its termination;

seizure of property, its cancellation;

all preventive measures (they are called - preventive measures);

application of electronic control tools;

conducting all covert actions (ARDS);

on the conduct of criminal proceedings in a closed court session during the entire trial or its separate part;

consideration of complaints: on inaction, on termination of the case, on refusal to recognize victims, on refusal to apply security measures, on refusal to a participant in the process to carry out covert actions, on changing the order of pre-trial proceedings, on non-compliance with reasonable deadlines during the proceedings.

In addition, there is a provision in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine that obliges an investigating judge, even on his own initiative, to protect human rights during criminal proceedings. This is dictated by the fact that one of the tasks of criminal proceedings, in addition to those similar to ours, is the protection of the individual in the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine, so that no person is subjected to unreasonable procedural coercion, and that due process is applied to each participant in criminal proceedings (Part 1 of Article 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). B) According to the second part of Article 56 of the draft CPC, the investigating judge exercises other powers besides authorizing: 1) considers complaints about the actions (inaction) and decisions of the inquirer, the body of inquiry, the investigator and the prosecutor; 2) considers the prosecutor's request for confiscation of property obtained illegally before sentencing; 3) deposits the testimony of the victim and witness during the pre-trial proceedings; 4) imposes monetary penalties on persons who do not comply or comply with improper procedural duties in pre-trial proceedings; 5) considers the issue of recovery of procedural costs in a criminal case on the recommendation of the body conducting the criminal process; 6) at the reasoned request of a lawyer participating in the defense 

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