Procedural regulation of copying and inspection of electronic messages in criminal court proceedings

Introduction: this research focuses on the criminal procedural regulation of copying and inspection of electronic messages, as well as possible ways to optimize legal norms in this area. Materials and Methods: the main methods used in the study are the dialectical-materialistic method of cognition of legal reality, which is expressed in general scientific and particular scientific approaches (analysis and synthesis methods, system and structural, and comparative legal methods). During the research, the author studied the scientific and educational literature, materials of investigative and judicial practice devoted to the issue. Results: this article analyzes the changes in the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, introduced by Federal Law No. 375-FL dated 07/06/2016, regarding the legal regulation of the inspection and seize of electronic communications in pre-trial criminal proceedings; the position of various authors regarding the studied norms is analyzed; a critical assessment of the norm under study is given, from the point of view of the rules of legislative technique, as well as from the standpoint of the current federal legislation regulating public relations in communications and mass communications; court practice on the application of Part 7 of Article 185 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation is considered...