Peculiarities of Evidentiary Value of Expert’s Conclusion in Criminal Procedure

Abstract

The criminal procedural and scientific bases of assessment and use of expert's conclusion in the criminal procedure are discussed in the paper presented. The author presents legal regulations of RACode of Criminal Procedure concerning proofs evaluation and, based on that, underlines peculiarities of these norms in regard to the expert's conclusion. Various approaches of scientists and RA law-enforcement practice have been analyzed from this point of view. The author represents legal approaches of the RA Court of Cassation, as well as examples from other judicial acts related to the topic covered, and shows the trend of RA Court of Cassation case-law development. As a conclusion, the author states that, unlike other types of proofs, a proper and comprehensive assessment of an expert's opinion implies its study and analysis from the point of view of the integrity and credibility of the foundations, in other words – the process of an expert opinion assessment should be carried out paying attention to the totality and integrity of the legal (decision on expertise commission, protocol on obtaining samples) and actual (authenticity, compliance of samples and objects) bases.