Часть 3. Домашнее чтение

1. Investigation

"Any person accused of committing a crime shall be considered innocent until his (her) guilt is proven in accordance with the procedure stipulated by federal law and is confirmed by a court sentence which has entered into legal force." (Article 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation)

The investigator and the court base their conclusions concerning the guilt of the accused upon the verification and assessment of the evidence. Evidence in a criminal case is facts, on the basis of which the investigating authorities and the court establish, in accordance with the law, the existence or absence of a socially dangerous act, the guilt of the person committing the act, and other circumstances of importance in making a correct decision in the case.

The investigator, the militia, the prosecutor and the court establish the facts in the case from the testimony of witnesses, the injured parties, suspects, accused, the opinions of experts, exhibits, the records of the investigation and court proceedings, and other documents.

The investigator, having received information that a crime has been committed, inquires as to the persons who may be of help to him in establish­ing the circumstances of the case, and summons them as witnesses. To obtain exhibits the investigator inspects the scene of the crime and makes searches and seizures. He requests written documents from state establishments and persons in office.

For the evidence collected by the investigator to be valid in court it must be presented in the form of records of the interrogation, search inspec­tion, etc. The law requires all documents of investigation to be signed by witnesses, the investigator, and other participants in the cases, and to be without erasures, alterations, etc.

The collection of evidence before the trial is performed in the preliminary investigation. In more complicated cases the investigation is carried out by investigators, and otherwise by the militia. To obtain evidence, the investigator takes steps to find eye-witnesses of the crime, to obtain exhibits, etc.

The testimony of witnesses is a type of evidence. A witness is a person who is aware of facts relevant to a criminal case.

Upon receiving the summons, a witness must appear before the investi­gator or in court. If he fails to appear without good reason, he may be forced to by the militia and is criminally responsible for failure to appear. It is the duty of a witness to give all information at his disposal concerning the case and the accused.

The indictment is the culminating stage of the investigation in which the investigator sets forth the particulars of the crime and the evidence col­lected in the case and specifies the article of the criminal code covering the acts of the accused.

2. Fighters' Image Boosted by Terrorists

Moscow News

The danger of terrorist acts has now diminished somewhat

Law enforcement authorities officially announced that a series of terrorist acts had recently been prevented in several Russian cities, revealing some details of the operation. Interior Minister said a number of people had been detained in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, and Rostov-on-Don, as well as in the Republic of Dagestan. A series of operations carried out simultaneously in various cities turned up a large amount of explosives, detonators, and a re­mote control device, while several people suspected of preparing acts of ter­rorism and sabotage were detained. One terrorist group leader was detained at Moscow's Kursky railway station.

Police point to the detainees' connection with Chechen rebels. Citing the secrecy of investigation, law enforcement officials do not disclose all details of the operation. Even so, we managed to establish some particulars.

According to the head of a Federal Security Service (FSB) department, the FSB Volgograd Directorate played a key role in the operation, securing infor­mation that led to subsequent detentions. Friday night, July 21, in a large-scale operation in Volgograd, federal agents detained members of an interregional crime group allegedly preparing a series of terrorist acts. The action was carried out by FSB Volgograd Directorate jointly with the Organized Crime and Cor­ruption Control Directorate. In all, 14 people were detained, among them Slavs, Chechens, and one Moroccan. Three of the group's organizers have long been on the federal wanted list while some of those arrested are responsible for a number of serious crimes, including robbery and murder.

A search turned up 400 grams of TNT, 200 grams of plastic explosives, two electrical detonators, three pistols, several dozen live cartridges, and a large number of photographs of the exterior and interior of the Volgograd railway terminal and Moscow State University.

According to the Prosecutor's Officer press service, a bus and a car with the suspects were placed under surveillance in the south of the Volgograd region late last week with federal agents following them as they moved north.

According to the chief of the FSB Volgograd Directorate, there is irrefutable evidence showing that a major bomb attack was being prepared at the Volgo­grad railway station for the end of July. Furthermore, there is reason to believe that the criminal group was getting ready to stage terrorist acts not only in Volgograd, Nizhny Volgograd, and Moscow, but also in Tula, Kursk, and a number of other cities in the country's European part.

FSB Directorate agents who took part in the operation said some of the de­tainees had been engaged in hostilities in Chechnya and Dagestan and trained by warlord Khattab's instructors. There is conclusive evidence pointing to the bandits' involvement in the terrorist act committed in Volgograd on May 31, which left two servicemen dead.