Familiarization with the materials of the criminal case as a guarantee of protection of the rights of the accused

Introduction: the paper discusses the procedure for familiarizing the accused with the materials of the criminal case. The paper identifies the main problems that arise in the practice of resolving petitions filed after the familiarization with the materials of the criminal case. In the paper, the author analyzes the procedure for familiarizing the accused and his defense lawyer with the materials of the criminal case, which is one of the important stages in the pre-trial proceedings. In the course of the study, it was found that the accused has more opportunities to exercise their right to submit petitions than other participants in the criminal proceedings. In the course of the research, the author investigated the theoretical and practical problems that arise when familiarizing the accused with the materials of the criminal case. In this paper, the author sets the goal of the study: to analyze the procedural order for familiarizing the accused with the materials of the criminal case. Methods: the methodological framework for the research is the general scientific system method, which examines the issues related to the activities of the investigator at the stage of familiarization of participants in the criminal proceedings with the materials of the criminal case. It is necessary to emphasize the use of some specific scientific methods in the research, such as the comparative legal and formal logical methods. Results: the need to introduce a separate rule in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation related to the issue of the procedure for filing a petition by the accused and his defense lawyer. Conclusions: the study revealed that it is necessary to improve the process for filing petitions, the rules for their consideration by the investigator, and ensuring that the parties to criminal proceedings guarantee the protection of their rights and legitimate interests. In particular, it is necessary to make additions to Article 217 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation in the paragraph on the need to fix the reasons for the inability to get acquainted with the material evidence and their further specification in the investigator’s decision.