Features of the consideration by the court of applications for extending the term of the content of the accused for detention

This article is devoted to the specifics of extending the term of a preventive measure in the form of detention. This measure are the most severe of the available in criminal procedure laws and legislative norms, which should be applied in exceptional cases when the application of another milder measure of restriction is impossible. At the same time, when resolving the issue of extending the term of the accused in custody, the court should carefully check the arguments of the preliminary investigation authorities about the impossibility of changing the preventive measure to a softer one, each time considering the possibility of applying a different preventive measure depending on the circumstances of the case and the amount of the criminal case investigative and procedural actions. In practice, the opposite situation develops, the overwhelming majority of requests for extending the period of detention of the accused are subject to satisfaction, including if he is charged with committing crimes classified by the criminal law as moderate or even minor. The paper presents cases in which the further extension of the most stringent preventive measure available in the modern criminal procedure law will be unreasonable, violating the constitutional rights of the accused, as well as those arguments that the court should pay attention to when applying for an extension of the preventive measure in the form of detention. In addition, the paper provides an analysis of the legislatively fixed deadlines for the detention of defendants in custody, suggests possible options for changing these periods in the direction of reducing their duration.