Problems of legal regulation of the legal status considered in criminal proceedings
The authors consider a number of urgent problems of legal regulation of the status of witnesses in criminal proceedings. The article proposes to include additional prohibitions (incapacity, limited legal capacity, the presence of physical and mental disabilities that impede the identification of the progress and results of an investigative action, the state of intoxication) and requirements (Russian citizenship, knowledge of the language of the court) to persons involved as witnesses. The authors note that the prevailing practice, which admits accepting the involvement of relatives as witnesses (husband-wife, father-son, brothers, etc.), is contrary to the current law. However, since the legal restrictions on the participation of witnesses-relatives in the case are excessive, the article substantiates the proposal to exclude these prohibitions from the current criminal procedure law.