Regulatory Legal Meaning of Items Subject to Forfeiture as Material Evidence (paragraph 1 of part 3 of Article 81 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation): Should Courts Follow It?
The article deals with analysis of records of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the claim of Mr. A.E. Pevsner, on which the Resolution No. 5-P was issued on 7th March, 2017, and other printed materials in its respect. On its basis the author concludes that courts of all levels are obliged to comply with the articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation from the viewpoint of legal language, stating that instruments of crime to be confiscated as material evidence are not identical with target of crime, as well as the targets of crime are delimited from instruments of crime and have an independent legal regime. This should be the only ground to determine whether to seize the subject as the material evidence or transfer it to legal owners.