Presumption of innocence. Art. 49 of the RF Constitution

Civil society is a large set of people, united by one culture, customs and state framework. At the same time, society at all times was the basis of the state system. After all, the foundation of each country is laid directly by people. It is worth noting the fact that within a particular state the society needs to be regulated. This principle was derived long ago. The main problem in this case is the cumbersome nature of society. Its structure is a complex mechanism. Without the presence of constant control, it can simply fail. Throughout its history, people have tried to find the most powerful and effective regulator of social relations. During the search, religion and violence were tried, but these categories showed their inefficiency. Everything changed with the advent of law. People realized that there is nothing better than a set of legalized legal norms. At the same time, the main regulator of social relations - the right - is a rather multifaceted category. Therefore, to facilitate its direct application, a certain kind of presumption was formed. One such is the presumption of innocence, which is widely used in domestic jurisprudence.

Term meaning

The presumption is a category that originally originated in the philosophical, not the legal, realm. That is, in order to understand its features, it is necessary to understand the initial assumptions of the presented phenomenon. Thus, the presumption is a kind of assumption, which in all cases, without exception, is considered true until the reverse is proven. In other words, the fact has an unchanged content until its official change on the basis of irrefutable facts.

Presumption of innocence

The mentioned category has found its application in the domestic jurisprudence and the legislation of the Russian Federation. But we will analyze everything in order. The presumption of innocence is the irrefutable fact of the absence of guilt of a certain person. In this case, a person should not be subjected to any restrictions until he is proved guilty of committing a crime. The presumption is the fundamental principle of the criminal process. In this case, there is a whole normative basis, based on this principle.

Normative regulation

Any legal presumption has a certain legal status. That is, these categories are fixed in certain normative acts. In this case, the presumption of innocence has as many as two levels of regulatory regulation, if you take into account the basic documents that fix it.

1. As mentioned earlier, the presumption of innocence is most clearly manifested in criminal law. It is enshrined in the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, namely Article 14. Based on the provisions of the rule presented, compliance with the presumption is mandatory for all law enforcement and judicial bodies.
2. Article 49 of the RF Constitution also contains the principle mentioned earlier. This rule of the basic law, in fact, is the basis for the application of a similar legal design in criminal law.

It is worth noting that, within the framework of this article, we will consider the position of the basic law on the presumption of innocence, since it is broader.

Article 49 of the RF Constitution

So, the norm of the basic law of the Russian Federation tells about such a legal construction as the presumption of innocence. In this art. 49 of the RF Constitution reveals not only the concept, but also a number of other aspects of the said legal phenomenon. The article consists of three parts. In each of them are presented quite interesting aspects of the presumption, for example:

• Part 1 of Art. 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation speaks of the innocence of any person until his guilt is proven in the manner established by Russian law.
• Part 2 speaks of the inability to impose on the accused the duty to prove his innocence.
• In part 3 of Art. 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation indicates that unavoidable, obvious doubts about the accused's guilt will be interpreted in his favor.

As we see, the presented provisions of the constitutional norm speak about the exclusive role of the presumption of innocence in the current legislation and the legal field as a whole. The fact that the category is fixed in the main law makes it the fundamental factor of the entire legal system of our state. In order to understand in more detail all aspects of the category, it is necessary to analyze each part of the legal norm.

Innocence of the person and the process of its establishment

If we analyze Art. 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation with comments, many of its aspects become clear. For example, part one says that the guilt of a person must be proved in accordance with the procedure established by law. From this statement come up two important aspects.

• First, the confession of a person guilty of something should be done objectively.
• Secondly, the collection of evidence of guilt occurs within the established legal procedures.

In the first case, we are talking about the activities of the investigative bodies, the inquiry, the prosecutor's office and, of course, the court. After all, these departments are able to organize and implement an objective process of proving a person's guilt. As for the second aspect, it is of exceptional importance, again, for representatives of law enforcement agencies. It should be noted that evidence of guilt occurs within a certain procedure, the violation of which will result in the loss of all collected evidence. In this case, there is another important point. The very process of proving does not mean anything without the court's conviction.

Inability to impose a duty

Part 2 of Art. 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the commentary to which is presented in the article, prohibits compelling a person to independently prove the fact of his innocence. In other words, if a person puts forward an alibi, then the relevant pre-trial investigation bodies must check it independently. The person in this case is not obliged to provide explanations, documents and other evidence to relieve himself of suspicion.

This provision affects many procedural relations. For example, a suspect or an accused can refuse to testify, answer questions, or, on the contrary, give evidence that he considers necessary in this situation. In other words, a person is free to choose his actions, since no one can make him admit to something. Thus, the collected evidence should fully show the guilt of a particular person in the commission of a particular act. Otherwise, the person will continue to be considered innocent.

Imputation of doubt

The provisions of Art. 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation also narrates about the rules of interpretation of irremovable doubts of a person's guilt. Part 3 says that doubts about a person's involvement in an offense should be interpreted in favor of his innocence. However, there is a certain specificity. The bottom line is that all the facts can be far from the above doubts. Individual elements of the person's guilt should be checked as objectively and thoroughly as possible. In this case, the unavoidability of doubts is manifested in the fact that they can not be refuted or covered up with other facts. In other words, such circumstances are reliable and incontrovertible.

The significance of the category for domestic legislation

In the national legal system there are many interesting categories, one of which is the presumption of innocence. The Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 49) provides an exhaustive description of this phenomenon. But in this case a logical question arises: what role does the presumption of innocence play in domestic legislation? First of all, it should be noted that this institution is entirely democratic.

That is, its existence emphasizes the essence of the state itself. On the other hand, the presumption of innocence causes certain actual moments of activity of certain bodies. It directly affects the procedural factors of the investigation of crimes. In addition, the existence of a presumption suggests that Russia has moved away from the totalitarian principles of building a political regime in the state.

Presumption of innocence in other sectors

As we understand, Art. 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation is not the only source of the legal construction mentioned in the article. This legal phenomenon occurs in several branches of modern law, namely:

• Criminal;

• Administrative;
• Tax.

Presence of the presumption of innocence in the constitution allows us to apply the design in many legal relationships. After all, the basic law is the basis of the legal system of the state.

We tried to find out what the presumption of innocence is. The Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 49) describes this specific legal point. In conclusion, it should be noted that his existence has changed the entire legal system of our state for the better.