ON DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN MATERIAL EVIDENCE AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

The author points out the legal and technical shortcomings of the criminal procedure law, which prevent establishing a clear distinction between documents as material evidence and other documents. In particular, imperfect provisions of Art. 81, part 1, para. 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation allow any document from lawyer’s proceedings to be recognized as material evidence and, therefore, make the ban on the use of materials from lawyer’s proceedings in a criminal case null and void. The article identifies some common features, which are inherent to material evidence and distinguish them from other types of information sources. The author also formulates proposals for clarifying Art. 75, part 2, para. 2.1 and Art. 81, part 1, para. 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.