Leonid Filanovskiy commented to Pravo.ru on the position of the Russian Supreme Court on changes in testimony by the injured party

In Criminal Case No. 2-8/2020, the defendant’s lawyers attempted to challenge the court’s decision on the grounds of the difference between the victim’s testimony during the pre-trial investigation and in court. In their view, the contradictory testimony could not form the basis of the verdict. The appeal was considered by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which ruled that the applicable criminal procedure law did not prohibit those involved in the proceedings from changing their testimony and did not provide for the inadmissibility of their previous testimony (case No. 50-UD21-11-A5).

Leonid Filanovskiy, Partner, Head of Criminal Law practice at Maxima Legal, told Pravo.ru that in practice he often encounters the fact that the testimony of victims, witnesses and defendants differ during the preliminary investigation and in court. However, according to the expert, when assessing the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on this issue, “it should be remembered that the victim’s testimony is only one piece of evidence. Whereas courts assess the entire evidence base rather than relying on testimony alone”.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Pravo.ru website >>>