Substantiation of the risk of absconding when applying pre-trial restriction measures related to the limitation of a constitutional person’s right

Abstract

The article examines the features of the prosecutor's substantiation of the risk of absconding from the pre-trial investigation bodies and / or the court when applying measures related to the restriction of the constitutional rights of a person. Statistical data show a trend towards an increase in the number of cases of refusals by investigating judges to approve petitions of prosecutors as subjects of proving on the use of means of criminal procedural evidence, in particular, security measures, which indicates, among other things, the low level of validity of the petitions filed. Thus, in 2018, investigating judges refused to satisfy 5,970 petitions out of a total of 37,193 petitions for the application of precautionary measures (16.5%); in 2019 - 5,733 out of 34,780 (about 16.4%); in 2020 - 5,693 out of 31,547 (18.1%); for 2021 - 5,277 out of 30,408 (17.3%); for January-March 2022 - 799 out of 4,526 (17.6%). This is due to the fact that the problems of the prosecutor's exercise of his powers in proving in the pre-trial investigation, in particular in substantiating the presence of the risk of absconding, have not yet been subjected to a comprehensive theoretical study. The study of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights allows us to reveal the essence of the risk of absconding as a basis for the application of measures related to the restriction of the constitutional rights of a person, as well as to find out what factors should be taken into account by the prosecutor when substantiating the risk of absconding.