The role of judicial discretion in the reimbursement of procedural costs as expenses related to with the payment of the victim's representative

This article is devoted to topical issues and issues related to the reimbursement of procedural costs to the representative of the victim. The practical significance, little study, as well as the inconsistency of the chosen aspect of the procedural institution of costs are taken into account. The article draws attention to the lack of uniformity in the application of Articles 131, 132 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, analyzes the essence of the concept of “judicial discretion” when deciding on the distribution of procedural costs. Using illustrative examples from judicial practice, problematic issues related to the criterion of reasonableness of expenses of the victim’s representative are considered. In the course of this research, methods of scientific cognition such as general scientific and private scientific methods, such as analysis and synthesis, system, formal-legal, logical-legal, comparative-legal are used. The scientific basis of the research was the work of scientists investigating the issues of compensation of procedural costs to the representative of the victim V. S. Perekrestov, S. R. Zelenin, A. A. Baev, M. Yu. Porokhov. The problems of judicial discretion were touched upon in the works of A. A. Haidarov, N. O. Mashinnikova. In conclusion, it is concluded that it is necessary to take into account the principle of reasonableness and fairness when reducing the amount of procedural costs, especially in the absence of uniformity in determining the amount of procedural costs, otherwise it indicates a different interpretation of the provisions of the law and non-systemic judicial practice.