MOSCOW, September 24 (RAPSI) – Private detectives are to be given the status of participants in criminal proceedings in order to relieve investigators from excessive workload, member of Russia’s Civic Chamber Commission on Security and Cooperation with Public Monitoring Commissions Valery Vasilyev believes.

The measure requires amending the Code of Criminal Procedure as concerns the involvement of experts; currently investigators have the right to invite any expert when working on cases, and Vasilyev wonders why private detectives cannot be involved under the same procedure. The involvement of private detectives and granting them broader powers, the Civic Chamber members observes, could help to improve the quality of probes and to settle many serious problems encountered by people.

Earlier, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Security and Countering Corruption Anatoly Vyborny has proposed to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to the effect that private detectives were granted a status permitting them to engage in criminal intelligence operations so the information they collected could be admitted as evidence in criminal cases on the part of both the Investigative Committee and the police.