PhD., Associate professor Fayziev Sh.F.

Tashkent State Law University, Uzbekistan

Comparative analyze of criminal procedural law of Uzbekistan and Japan

(In the case of inquiry procedure of Uzbekistan)

The development of democracy and civil institutions is the best priority in building a new life in the young state of Uzbekistan. This choice is consolidated in the Preamble of the fundamental law of the state- the Constitution - which states that the people aim to create a humane democratic state and confirms its adherence to the ideas of democracy and social justice

The continued liberalization of the judicial sphere has become an important direction of the democratic renovation and modernization of the country.

Independent judicial authority and judicial system have been established, meeting the highest contemporary requirements. Measure to strengthen the guarantee of judicial protection of citizens and its accessibility are being taken.

Measures, taken to liberalize criminal and criminal procedural law, have had great social and political significance. Legislation has been passed which changes the classification of crimes. More than 73% of crimes, previously regarded as very serious or serious, were reclassified as crimes which do not present a significant public danger, which has allowed using of a wider range of punishments other than imprisonment. The possibility of using economic penalties instead of imprisonment for people, who commit economic crime, was instead. These reforms have reduced the number of people accused of economic crime by two times over the last five years. The concept of the reconciliation of sides has also been introduced into criminal legislation and law enforcement practice.

Reforms in criminal procedural law in Uzbekistan started with adoption 1992 constitution of Uzbekistan. These reforms continued adoption of New Criminal Procedural code.

22 September 1994 Criminal Procedural Code of Uzbekistan was adopted after independence of Uzbekistan. This code drastically reformed criminal procedure of Uzbekistan. In this code new principles, humanism, presumption of innocence etc were implemented. The main purpose of code is protection of human rights and freedom.

The passing of the Presidential decrees “On the abolishment of the Death penalty in the republic of Uzbekistan” and “On handing over the powers of detention to the law courts” marked a significant stage in the process of liberalization criminal legislation

Criminal procedure of Uzbekistan consists of pretrial and trial stages. Pretrial stage includes initiate of criminal case, inquiry, investigation and completion of criminal case

As an exception criminal case in conciliation from inquiry stage may proceed directly to trial stage. Inquiry shall be completed (1) with referring a criminal case to an investigator or (2) resolution to refer the criminal case to criminal court for conciliation of parties or (3) completion of criminal case with referral of case to prosecutor with representation to apply to court about dismiss the criminal case according to amnesty act (part 1 article 342 CPC of Uzbekistan).

Main question of this paper is inquiry, one of the stages of pretrial proceedings. In this paper first of all, definition of inquiry then inquiry agencies after that procedure of inquiry will be discussed. After clarifying system of inquiry then current problems

There is no unit definition to inquiry. This is because of multiple character of inquiry. Some scholars say inquiry is one of the forms of investigation others say inquiry is one of the stage of investigation it is before the pretrial investigation. Third group of scholars say inquiry is not criminal procedural activity but it is equal to operational-detective measures.

According to author’s opinion, Inquiry is activity of government agencies and civil servants which is regulated by criminal procedural law and investigation actions for speedy and complete crime detection. This inquiry actions commits by governmental agencies which regulated by law.

The inquiry agencies shall be: (1) Militia (police); (2) Commanders of military units and formations, heads of military institutions and educational establishments – on cases involving crimes committed by their subordinate servicemen, as well as by reservists undergoing military trainings; on cases involving crimes committed by the personnel of the Military Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan during execution of their official functions or on the territory of the unit, formation, institution or educational establishment; (3) National security service – on cases under their legal jurisdiction; (4) Heads of the punishment enforcement system under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, heads of the penitentiary facilities, convict colonies, of the correction colonies, investigative isolation wards and prisons – on case involving crimes against the order of service committed by the personnel of these institutions, as well as on case involving other crimes committed on the territory of these institutions. (As amended by the Law of 27.12.1996) (5) Fire security agencies – on cases involving fires and violation of the fire prevention rules; (6) Border guard agencies – on cases involving the breach of the state border (7) Captains of sea-going vessels during long trips (8) Customs agencies, Tax and Currency Exchange Crime Control Department under the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its local branches – on cases involving violation of tax, customs and currency exchange laws respectively. (9) Department of execution of court decions and financial support of courts under Ministry of Justice of Republic of Uzbekistan (10) Tax agencies (Article 38 Criminal procedural code of Uzbekistan). Powers and duties of inquiry agencies shall not be discussed in this paper.

Tasks of inquiry are inquiry shall consist in conducting urgent investigative actions in order to:

1) Prevent or suppress the commission of an offense;

2) Collect and secure evidence;

3) Apprehend suspects of having committed an offense and detect fugitive suspects and defendants;

4) Secure compensation for pecuniary damage caused by an offense (part 1 article 339 CPC of Uzbekistan).

Inquiry agencies shall have the obligation to take required measures with the use of scientific and technical means for the purposes of detecting indicia of an offense and persons who have committed an offense, discovering information that may be used as evidence in the criminal case upon verification thereof in compliance with the rules of this Code. Internal affairs and national security service agencies and the Tax and Currency Exchange Crime Control Department under the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its field offices may take also operational-detective measures for the above purposes (part 1 article 339 CPC of Uzbekistan).

Upon initiation of a criminal case or receipt thereof initiated by a prosecutor or head of inquiry agency, an inquiry officer shall, without delays, accept the criminal case for proceedings and commence conducting urgent investigative actions.

One of the character of inquiry is it shall complete in limited time. Inquiry in a criminal case shall be completed no longer than within ten days (article 341 CPC of Uzbekistan.) That’s why inquiry agencies should complete inquiry activity within ten days.

Inquiry shall be completed with referring a criminal case to an investigator. An inquiry officer shall refer criminal case to an investigator without delays, not waiting for expiration of the time limit for conducting inquiry, if:

1) Serious or very serious crime has been established;

2) Grounds to prosecute certain person as an accused in criminal case have been established;

3) Grounds to dismiss criminal case have been established;

4) An investigator requested to refer the criminal case to accept for proceedings.

Inquiry officer in the following cases shall complete criminal case independently and refer directly to criminal court.

(1) Resolution to refer the criminal case to criminal court for conciliation of parties or

(2) Completion of criminal case with referral of case to prosecutor with representation to apply to court about dismiss the criminal case according to amnesty act. An inquiry officer shall render a resolution to refer criminal case to an investigator.

There are many researches about inquiry in Japan [1, c. 39,54] and in Uzbekistan [2; 3; 4]. Many researches were done about inquiry in Russia federation but, researching show that very hard to find any research work about comparative analyze of criminal procedural law of Uzbekistan and Japan.

In the researches of above mentioned scholars were discussed some problems related to inquiry. In this paper authors problems are discussed.

There is not any law about militia (police) which is one of the main inquiry agencies. This agencies activity is regulated by internal regulation. This causes infringement of human rights and freedom. That’s why law on milicia (or internal affairs) should adopt.

In the CPC of Uzbekistan to commit operational-detective measures is one of the inquiry agencies power. But operational-detective measures are not regulated by law. During operational-detective measures activity may infringe human rights and freedom. One of the one principle of criminal procedure is criminal procedure law must regulated by law. This is contradiction to that principle.

Inquiry agencies starts inquiry activity but they must complete inquiry activity within ten days. In practice ten days is not enough to investigate. Time of inquiry is very short. I. Each inquiry agency is profession in his sphere its better to do inquiry fully form. That’s why time of inquiry shall be prolonged.

Competence of inquiry agencies do not clearly divided. There are some quarrels among inquiry agencies in practice. That’s why competence of each inquiry agency shall be clearly regulated by law.

References:

1. Kuk Cho. The Japanese “Prosecutorial Justice” and Its Limited Exclusionary Rule // Colum. J. Asian L. – 1998. – 12. – P. 39, 54.

2. Абдумажидов Г.А. Развитие законодательства о расследовании преступлений. – Ташкент: Узбекистан, 1974.

3. Очилов Т.Р. Производство дознания по дорожно-транспортным происшествиям подразделениями Госавтоинспекции. – Ташкент: Адолат, 2000.

4. Хидоятов Б.Б. Проблемы регулирования дознания в Республике Узбекистан: Автореф. дис. ... канд. юрид. наук. – Ташкент: ТГЮИ, 2002.