On April 5, the Human Rights and Justice Program gathered experts, judges, prosecutors, investigators and attorneys to participate in a debate on the topic: “Suspicious Indictment or Indicting Suspicions?” The debate participants discussed how the concept of suspicion is used in criminal proceedings and why suspicion often performs a prosecution function. This was the first discussion in a series of professional discussions JustTalk.
In recent years, the program has conducted several empirical studies to examine the role of police officers during detention, the role of public prosecutors at the stage of pre-trial investigation, and the procedural interaction between detectives and prosecutors from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The program currently conducts a research to examine the role of the investigating judge. According to the results of the studies outlined above, one of the key findings is the lack of clear understanding of the role of each participant in criminal proceedings, as well as the lack of clear rules of interaction between them.
During one year, a group of practitioners and experts has been working on pre-trial investigation standards to determine the scope of work for each participant in the criminal process, as well as their respective algorithms of action.
In the first professional discussion, the participants talked about suspicion: why it does not serve its original purpose in the criminal process and often becomes an indictment itself. The participants discussed the scenarios for transformation, which can be found here and here.
