Influence of the principle of legal equality on the development of procedural legislation

The research focuses on the role of the principle of legal equality in the development of procedural legislation. Using specific examples, the author demonstrates that this principle is not always observed in the regulation of homogeneous legal relations. Deviations from it can be found both within a single law and within several laws that differently regulate individual relations in intersectoral legal institutions, even when there is no objective need for such deviations. The re-search concludes that one of the areas of development of procedural legislation influenced by the principle of legal equality is the unification of legal regulation of homogeneous legal relations. In criminal proceedings, the author proposes eliminating the discriminatory rule that recognizes as in-admissible evidence the testimony of a suspect (accused) given in pre-trial proceedings in the ab-sence of a defense attorney, whom the defendant has refused, and which is not confirmed in court.