Deposition in German Criminal Procedure: A Critical Appraisal of the Post-Soviet Myth

Abstract

The article examines the German experience of the legal establishment and practical application of the criminal procedural institute of deposition. Today, this procedure is being actively discussed throughout the post-Soviet space. The fact that seven countries of the former Soviet Union (Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia) have implemented the institute of depositing into their criminal proceedings makes this discussion particularly acute. The author of the article concludes that the experience of FRG cannot serve as a positive example for this kind of reforms. According to the author, the German version of deposition has no coherent conceptual basis, and its very existence seems to be the result of historical accident. The article also demonstrates the far-fetched nature of the frequent parallels between German and post-Soviet deposition regulations. The hypothesis that the postSoviet reformers relied on the American experience, which has its own special internal logic, seems much more plausible. The central idea of the article is the fundamental incompatibility of the institution of deposition with the beginnings of a continental preliminary investigation. This conclusion may be useful for further reflection on the current problems of pre-trial proceedings.