THE FEASIBILITY OF CONSIDERING THE ISSUE OF EXCLUSION OF EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS BEFORE HEARING THE CASE ON THE MERITS

The relevance of the study is due to the growing importance of compliance with procedural guarantees in criminal proceedings, especially in the context of expanding the participation of jurors, whose perception of evidence is subject to emotional influence. Untimely exclusion of inadmissible evidence creates risks of distortion of judicial decisions, undermines confidence in justice and violates the principles of fair trial enshrined in both national legislation (the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation) and international acts (the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights). The topic is of particular importance in the context of an increase in the number of cases where key evidence is contested at late stages of the process, which requires a systematic analysis of procedural mechanisms. The purpose of the study is to determine the optimal moment for excluding inadmissible evidence in criminal proceedings, assess the balance between procedural economy, protecting the rights of participants and ensuring the objectivity of the trial. The novelty of the work lies in the integrated approach to the analysis of the relationship between the moment of exclusion of evidence and the effectiveness of legal proceedings. The article systematically examines legislative norms, doctrinal positions and judicial practice, including cassation rulings of 2023. For the first time, the key legal risks of late exclusion of evidence are identified: impact on jurors, duplication of procedural actions, decreased confidence in court decisions and violation of the adversarial principle. The essence of the work comes down to determining the advisability of prioritizing consideration of issues of exclusion of evidence at the stage of preliminary hearing, which minimizes the risks of distortion of the process or at the stage of consideration of the criminal case on the merits. The author emphasizes the importance of maintaining flexibility: the legislator allows the exclusion of evidence even at the stage of cassation appeal, which reflects the dynamics of criminal proceedings. The study reveals a dissonance between the normative guidelines of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and law enforcement practice, where courts often postpone the decision of the issue, citing the “prematureness” of the petitions.

criminal proceedings, exclusion of evidence, preliminary hearing, procedural economy, jurors, judicial prac- tice, Constitution of the Russian Federation, judicial proceed- ings, pre-trial proceedings, consideration of the case

Belyshkov D. S. The feasibility of considering the issue of exclusion of evidence in criminal proceedings before hearing the case on the merits. Biznes. Obrazovanie. Pravo = Business. Education. Law. 2025;2(71):254—260. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2025.71.1323.