Some tactical and organizational features of the interrogation of victims and witnesses in the investigation of terrorist and extremist crimes

In the search and cognitive toolkit of the investigator, interrogation occupies one of the leading places, no investigation can do without it. The complexity of interrogation is due to the fact that it refers to investigative actions of verbal, and therefore the most psychologised nature. The specific form of communication within the framework of interrogation with different participants of the criminal process requires a calibrated tactical support of this investigative action, taking into account the procedural status and psychological type of the person questioned, the emerging situation, the availability of collected evidentiary material, the conditions of preparation and conduct of this investigative action. The article deals with the interrogation of witnesses and victims in the investigation of terrorist and extremist offences. Such interrogation, as a rule, is characterised by non-conflict, but in practice there are a number of issues of organisational, tactical support of its preparation and conduct that require attention and resolution. It is noted that there may be situations in which witnesses and victims give unreliable testimony that is not deliberately false, and there are not infrequent cases in which the victim or witness omits or fails to report circumstances that are of forensic significance. The investigator must take into account that the perception of the situation (or its individual elements) of committing terrorist and extremist offences may be influenced by a number of factors of a psycho-emotional nature, and in situations of stress and risk the motivation processes may have a different orientation. The arsenal of tactical methods and technologies, allowing to diagnose such testimony and create conditions for increasing the degree of reliability of information, the desire to share it, is developed by criminalistics science on the basis of modern achievements of psychology and can be effectively used by the investigator. The article also raises the issues of ensuring security by the state of victims and witnesses in the investigation of terrorist and extremist offences.