Justice as the primary basis of equality of all before the law and court in the criminal procedure of Russia

The article presents the results of the historiographic studies of the principle of equality of all before the law and court in the criminal procedural legislation of Russia. Considering the importance of the above principle for the formation of the authority of the judiciary, the author substantiates its fundamental role in the assessment by the population of the country of the presence and reflection in the law of justice as the core category of the genotype of the Russian nation. The positions of opponents of the legislative decision about the reflection of the category of «objective truth» in the text of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation are analyzed, the inconsistency and even the perniciousness of introducing the artificial concept of «legal justice» into the theory and practice are shown. The comparative characteristics of the textual expression of the principle of equality of all before the law and court in various legislative acts of the Russian Federation are given. On this basis, the preferred wording of this principle in the Criminal Procedure Code has been formulated. The segments of the content of the concept of justice in criminal proceedings are interpreted. From the standpoint of social justice, the redundancy of the presence in Chapter 52 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation of a large detachment of representatives of all branches of state power of Russia, endowed with additional privileges in criminal proceedings, is shown and commented on. The directions of changing the procedure for criminal proceedings against state and municipal employees, as well as the limits of their inviolability in the sphere of activity of criminal justice bodies, have been identified and substantiated. The evidence for the expediency of the direct participation of federal judges of courts of general jurisdiction in resolving the issues of restriction, suspension and deprivation of immunity of state and municipal employees for their criminal prosecution is given. The history and causes are studied, the initiators and conditions for the creation of the above section of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation are revealed, an assessment of its compliance with the typology and traditional ideology of the national criminal procedure is given. The most suitable options for legislative solutions that allow minimizing reputational losses for all branches of state power in cases of bringing their representatives to criminal liability are discussed and selected. A scheme of legislative work to optimize the content of the above section of the Criminal Procedure Code and to strengthen the principle of equality of all before the law and court and justice in the sphere of activity of criminal justice bodies is proposed and substantiated.