An important factor contributing to the effectiveness of all investigative work, and then legal proceedings, is the testimony of witnesses. However, often someone who has any information that can benefit the victims, feels a sense of fear. Such a person fears the upcoming communication with the guilty party, which may occur both during the investigation and at the hearing. Witnesses experience no less fear in connection with the likelihood of contacts with “friends” or relatives of the accused. And the legislation of Russia does not contain requirements that would prohibit such communication. But such cases are known when witnesses were abducted and subjected to prolonged bullying and beatings. They were required to refuse to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.
According to the experience of many countries of the world, for the maximum effectiveness of the fight against organized crime, the creation of a legal institution for the protection of witnesses from those negative forces that impede the investigation is required. An example is the United States. It is in this country that the witness protection program is most developed.
The need for law
In our country, all measures have been taken so that the saying that silence is gold becomes irrelevant in the case of combating illegal actions. Only one is required from a valuable witness. He must tell the truth in court. Those who are still asking the question “Is there a witness protection program in Russia?”, It is worth knowing that such an institution has already been developed in our country and is working quite effectively.
About ten million people enter the RF annually as witnesses and victims. Their testimonies are taken into account during the investigation of criminal cases considering crimes of varying severity. At the same time, every fifth of this category of citizens receives threats aimed at refusing to give evidence or requiring their change. However, many people do not know if there is a witness protection program in Russia, and they simply do not contact law enforcement agencies. And that is understandable. They just fear for their lives. However, without their testimony, an innocent person may end up in jail, while the offender, on the contrary, will remain at large. Therefore, the witness protection program in Russia is so relevant.
A person who is in a colony or in a pre-trial detention center can also use it. These places of deprivation of liberty have limited space and require special vigilance from their employees. After all, sometimes "sentences" to witnesses were given right on the bunk. If you recall the past 90s, then the “unnecessary” for criminals people could get in any colony or in a pre-trial detention center.
That is why numerous letters were written to Russian officials in defense of witnesses, and as a result of these appeals, measures were taken. Of course, we still have few such practices as in the USA where, according to the plot of the militants, people who are to testify are taken out or hidden before the trial. However, such an institution has already begun to work in accordance with what the Witness Protection Program requires. In Russia, a law on this was adopted in August 2004.
Who is guarded by the state?
The Law on the Protection of Witnesses in Russia prescribes the implementation of all necessary security measures that are necessary to protect the health, life, and property of persons participating in criminal proceedings.
Such citizens include: witnesses and victims, private prosecutors, as well as:
- defendants, suspects, accused, their legal representatives and defense counsels, acquitted and convicted;
- Specialists and experts, witnesses and translators, as well as psychologists and educators involved in the criminal process;
- civil defendants and plaintiffs;
- legal representatives of civil plaintiffs, victims, civil defendants and private prosecutors.
Does Russia have a witness protection program for loved ones and relatives of all the above categories of citizens? Yes, they are also protected by the state. This is due to the fact that attacks against these people can also be committed in order to change the testimony of their relative or loved one.
Does Russia have a witness protection program for an eyewitness, victim or applicant? Yes, state protection measures are aimed at such citizens, as well as at those who contribute to the disclosure or prevention of a crime, even before the initiation of a specific criminal case.
Program implementation
The adoption of the Law "On State Protection of Victims, Witnesses and Other Participants in Criminal Proceedings" could not solve the problem overnight. It took time to work out all the issues related to the protection of this category of citizens. It was then that a special state witness protection program was created in Russia. Today this is the third such project.
The first program ran from 2006 to 2008. The second - for the next five years. The current action extends to 2014-2018.
Today, the witness protection program in Russia involves all law enforcement agencies and ministries. In addition, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health, as well as the Biomedical Federal Agency, participate in it.
A witness protection program is being coordinated in the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is this ministry that implements basic security measures. For these purposes, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has created and successfully operates a special Directorate for ensuring the safety of persons subject to state protection (UOGZ). Most often, its employees have to deal with such areas as smuggling and corruption, as well as drug trafficking. But due to the fact that the witness protection program covers a significant layer of work, similar units have been created in many other departments. They are in the FSB, in the Federal Customs Service, in the Ministry of Defense, as well as in the Federal Service, which controls drug trafficking.
The new witness protection program in the Russian Federation provides for significantly increased funding compared to previous projects. Indeed, according to forecasts, state protection from 2014 to 2018. almost twenty thousand people may need it. To protect them, the budget allocated 1.5 billion rubles. Someone will need the help of bodyguards, someone will be relocated to another region, and those who are most at risk will have to change their name and even appearance.
How to become a member of the project?
If you need a witness protection program in Russia, how to ask for help? To participate in this project, for a person, a sense of reality of existing threats to health or to life is enough. And the first thing you need to do is contact the law enforcement authorities. Of course, this does not guarantee that the witness protection program in Russia will begin to apply to you. What does this mean? The fact is that all the concerns expressed by a person will be subject to verification, the duration of which should not exceed three days from the moment of treatment.
Upon confirmation of the expressed concerns, law enforcement agencies will issue a special resolution indicating the need for a witness protection program in Russia to be applied to a specific person.
However, people do not always seek help themselves. Sometimes the state takes the initiative. In such cases, a witness protection program in Russia may also be applied. Feedback on such situations is most often heard from participants in various criminal communities. It is with this category of citizens that serious preliminary work is being carried out to clarify all the advantages of state protection. These people are invited to quit the illegal group in order to testify against their former associates.
Such measures help prevent future crimes. Such protection of witnesses in Russia gives the right even the most inveterate criminal to start life in another region of the country with a new passport. If a person is nevertheless determined the term of serving a sentence, then it turns out to be minimal. At the same time, how does the witness protection program work in Russia? In such cases, the convicted person can be sure that he will never be placed in a correctional institution, where those against whom he testified are serving time.
Security measures
A person who has participated in a witness protection program will not be able to continue his usual way of life. However, at the same time, with the help of the employees of the Department of Public Safety, the main condition will be met. The main danger will disappear from the life of the witness. The first thing that law enforcement officials do is eliminate the threat itself and also prevent pressure.
If a witness protection program is being implemented in Russia, how does it work? For this, the necessary security measures are implemented. Of all such events, three categories can be distinguished:
1. Protection of the home, as well as property and directly of the witness, issuing him special means of hazard warning, communications, personal protection. The same group includes ensuring the confidentiality of information about the person who needs to be protected. Similar events are held in any situation and in any criminal cases of various categories of crimes.
2. Moving with the aim of changing the place of residence, issuing new documents, changing the place of work or study, changing the appearance or temporary provision of a safe place. In the same group are measures to apply additional measures to ensure the safety of those witnesses who are in custody or are serving a sentence. In these cases, the program operates only in the category of especially serious and serious crimes.
3. Other security measures. They are used in the event of a real threat of violence or the killing of the protected person, as well as damage or destruction of property belonging to him.
All of the above security measures by OGZS employees can be applied not only individually, but also in combination. In this case, there is only a need to comply with the grounds and conditions during each of these events.
Witness protection
To ensure this event, several employees are allocated. Their actions contribute to the suppression of attempts to exert physical influence on the protected person, as well as damage or destruction of his property. The number of such employees may vary and depends on the level of threat present.
The witness protection program provides for personal protection, which can be around-the-clock or provided only at certain times during a person’s stay on the road, on vacation and in other places of stay. At the same time, certain requirements are presented to the employee of the power department. He must have excellent mental training, master the system of hand-to-hand combat, skillfully handle firearms and cold steel. His responsibilities also include identifying those unknown people who most often appear near the location of the protected witness. In addition, he must identify external surveillance of the client.
If the witness is a soldier serving on a contract or draft basis, then such a measure as the protection of the home is subject to modification. This ensures the safety of all units of the military unit where it is located, the ship on which it serves, etc., that is, all the premises in the protected area.
Special Supply
This is the second, but no less important point by which effective witness protection can be implemented. An excellent means of securing the life of a protected person is the issuance of a secretly wearable body armor. But as a special means of communication can be a radio or cell phone, walkie-talkie, etc. To alert the danger, the witness is given an ordinary whistle, equipped with a “panic button”, etc. But besides this, the witness protection program provides for the further improvement of such tools.
Within its framework, 0.5 million rubles were allocated. in order to carry out experimental design and scientific work necessary to create such devices that would contribute to constant readiness, active defense and signaling in cases where the danger to the life of a witness becomes a reality.
Confidentiality of Information
As part of the implementation of such a security measure, law enforcement agencies may prohibit the issuance of any true information about the protected person. Moreover, instead of valid data, it is allowed to appear in a pseudonym and a fictitious place of residence. This ban primarily applies to telephone reference services, address and information bureaus, etc. Moreover, it does not matter what form of ownership such organizations belong. The ban is imposed on both state information bureaus and commercial ones.
In addition to these security measures, the Code of Criminal Procedure of Russia provides for the option not to display in the protocol drawn up by the investigating authorities, actual data on the identity of the victim and the witness, as well as their close relatives.
In addition, in order to take security measures to the identifying investigator, the conditions may be created to exclude visual contact with the offender. At the same time, witnesses are placed in the room where the witness is located.
To provide protection measures for all participants in the trial, it may be closed. This applies to cases where a court ruling or order has been issued.
Change of residence
The adoption of this measure depends on the specific situation. But if such a need arises, a corresponding appeal is sent from the head of the internal affairs department to local authorities. In addition, the opportunity is used to exchange housing through specialized organizations.
New passport
The Federal Law on the Protection of Witnesses also provides for the replacement of documents available to a person. The new passport indicates a different surname. The name and patronymic of a person are also changing. In some cases, the entire set of documents that the witness has is subject to replacement. These include a passport and certificate, diploma, work book and so on. The protected person is, in fact, offered a new biography. As for plastic surgery, it can only be carried out with the consent of the person himself.
Change of place of work or study
This measure is also provided for by the state witness protection program. In this case, the work may not be suitable:
- the conditions of which do not correspond to the norms and rules of labor protection;
- related to moving to another place of residence (in case of disagreement of a citizen);
- the proposed payment for which is below the average earnings of the witness in the same place for the last three years.
Safe Placement
The main feature of this measure is that the law expressly speaks of its temporary nature. Moreover, such an event can be applied to a fairly wide circle of people who, due to the existing threat to life and health, become participants in the witness protection program.
Among the safe places for a protected person may be:
- houses, apartments, summer residences, specially selected for these purposes, etc .;
- office premises located in the ATS facilities and adapted for living;
- Children's institutions (for minor relatives of the protected person);
- residential premises located on the territory of military units (with permission for their use by the commanders of these units);
- other places that are capable of ensuring the safety of witnesses.
The room in which the protected person will be temporarily located must comply with the sanitary and hygienic standards established by law and be equipped with all the necessary property for life.