The stage of instituting criminal proceedings: risks of gaps in Articles 140–145 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and ways of eliminating them

Problem. The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation regarding the reasons and grounds for initiating a criminal case are not regulated clearly enough, which creates problems in application of law and gives rise to ambiguous interpretation. This applies in particular to the distinction between the reasons and the grounds, the verification of anonymous statements, and the conduct of an examination before initiating a case. Aim. To substantiate and propose amendments to Articles 5, 140 and 141 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation
concerning the introduction of a definition of a reason, clarification of the procedure for verifying anonymous statements, and adjustment of the definition of the grounds for initiating a criminal case. Methods. The study employed a normativelogical analysis of the provisions of Chapters 19, 20 and related norms of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, a system-structural method for assessing the internal logic of the institution of reasons and grounds, formal legal interpretation of legal definitions, a study of doctrinal sources on the issues of the initiation stage, as well as legislative modelling of the author’s versions of norms with verification for consistency. The empirical basis consisted of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and reviews of judicial practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Results. The author’s  definition of a reason is formulated, a new wording of part 7 of Article 141 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is proposed, which clarifies the obligation to verify anonymous statements, and part 2 of Article 140 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is adjusted with respect to the grounds. The expansion of the list of reasons by including mutual legal assistance requests and decisions on separating materials is substantiated. Amendments are proposed aimed at clarifying the procedural status of participants and the conditions for conducting an examination and expert examination at the stage of initiating a criminal case. Conclusions. The identified gaps and conflicts cannot be eliminated solely by interpretation in the application of law – they require legislative amendments. The proposed versions of Articles 5, 140 and 141 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the supplementation of the list of reasons and the clarification of
the procedural status of participants are aimed at enhancing the certainty and uniformity of pre-investigation checks. The proposed amendments may be used in legislative activity and in judicial practice to eliminate the identified uncertainties.