Attesting witnesses in criminal procedure in the Russian Federation: trends and prospects based on comparative legal analysis of criminal procedure legislation of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan

The history of the institution of attesting witnesses in national criminal proceedings spans several centuries. The participation of these parties to the process was due to the need for disinterested persons to certify the course and content of the actions carried out by the investigating authorities in order to avoid abuse by the latter. However, at the present stage of development of criminal proceedings, there is an increasingly frequent opinion that this institution should be abolished, as it is a kind of archaism and does not fulfill the tasks for which it was created.