Imbalance in legal regulation of procedural immunity in the sphere of criminal proceedings

The article regards procedural immunities in criminal proceedings as the withdrawal of the principle of equality of human and citizen before the law out of the constitutional principle. The author formulates a position on the admissibility of the existence of such exceptions. At the same time he emphasizes that the legislator has to establish clear procedural borders for procedural immunities. Their entrenchment in the normative level is conditioned by the need to ensure the inviolability of persons performing publicly important functions. In turn, the legal regulation of guarantees under consideration should include the establishment of an optimal balance between various interests In support of this position the author provides the legal position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. According to the author, this balance hasn't been fully achieved yet. The reason for this are the deficiencies in the legal regulation of criminal proceedings in respect to certain categories of persons. Entrenchment of procedural immunities in several regulations such as the Criminal Procedural Code, as well in other special federal laws creates significant challenges for a law enforcer. The author provides examples of various presentation of the same guarantees in these acts which results in failing to achieve the necessary level of legal certainty in the field of the study of relations The author gives recommendations on the order of the production process in respect of the subjects that have a special legal status. However, it is noted that in order to avoid ambiguous interpretation of legal provisions amendments to the law are necessary The analysis of some procedural immunities suggests that they may serve as an absolute obstacle to bring the perpetrators to justice Among these is the need to obtain a prior consent of the respective chambers of the Federal Assembly for conducting a search in a residential area of the deputy of the State Duma and Federation Council member. The establishment of a disproportionate privileges to certain categories of persons are also mentioned For example, lawyers are vested with excessive amount of guarantees The author suggests treating procedural immunities as a unified system The imbalance in the legal regulation of procedural immunities is conditioned by the lack of clear regulations concerning the production process in respect of persons who have lost their special status, as well as having waived legally provided benefits. Such actions shall be conducted in a general manner

procedural immunity, special legal status, criminal procedural guarantees, legal regulation, the balance of interests, attorney-client priviledge, parliamentary immunity, the immunity of judges, search, witness immunity, certain categories of persons

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