1. Introduction

The presumption of innocence is one of the fundamental principles of law and criminal procedure, which enshrines a person’s innocence until proven otherwise and confirmed by a court verdict that has entered into force.

Scholars who have studied the origin of this principle argue that the original thesis of the presumption of innocence was the ancient Roman formula «praesumptio boni viri», meaning that a litigant is considered to be acting in good faith until otherwise proven.

2. Material and methods

The first provisions of the principle of the presumption of innocence in the history of Russian criminal proceedings are presented in the Cathedral Code of 1649. Thus, article 8, chapter 21 states that if someone brings a murderer or robber and they will accuse those who brought them to commit the same crimes, you can’t believe these accusations. In the military Charter by Peter the Great of 1716, individual provisions can also be considered as an application of the principle we are studying. Section 4 of chapter 42 states that there is a penalty for wrongfully accusing someone of committing a fiscal offence.

Empress Catherine II in 1767, in her «Decree of the commission on drafting a new installation» tried to introduce at legislative level the principle of presumption of innocence. However, Russian society was not ready for liberal views, and the idea was not accepted and realized.

The principle of presumption of innocence as a legal institution was formed in the «Declaration of the rights of man and citizen» after the French Revolution of 1789. «Every person is presumed innocent until he is declared guilty. Therefore, if it is deemed necessary to detain him, any measure of severity not inevitable to prevent him from fleeing must be strictly a penalty under the law» [3, pp. 28-29].

This concept, enshrined at the state level, became the foundation of legal thought in the field of human rights in Europe and was a consequence of the desire to entrench liberal standards of criminal law, including in the Russian Empire.

Under Emperor Nicholas I, in the Ordinance on punishments of 1845, chapter 3 «On the determination of penalties for offenses» established that punishment for a crime could be determined by a court only if the commission of the crime was «undoubtedly proven», and the accusation of committing the crime «shall be charged with the guilt of the defendant or defendants».

Emperor Alexander II successfully promoted the ideas of liberal politics. Thus, with the judicial reform, the Statute of Criminal Procedure was adopted in 1864. The legal model of individual articles enshrines the principle of the presumption of innocence in legislative terms, for example:

— according to article 1 of this Statute «No one may be prosecuted for a crime or misdemeanor unless he has been prosecuted in accordance with the procedure determined by these Statutes» [2, art. 1];

— article 14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that «No one may be punished for a crime or misdemeanor liable to the judicial authority, except by a judgment of an appropriate court which has acquired legal force» [2, art. 14];

— article 766 stipulates that «Judges shall determine the guilt or innocence of the defendant on the basis of their internal conviction, based on a discussion of all the circumstances of the case» [2, art. 766].

Thus, the consolidation of the articles we have quoted in the Code of Criminal Procedure established guarantees of the rights of the accused, adversarial nature and equality of the parties in the criminal proceedings. The Statute of Criminal Procedure, we believe, is a phenomenal model of legal thought in Russian history.

Later, the descendants of Alexander II replaced liberal progressive reforms with counter-reforms. With the fall of autocracy and empire, the principle we study was completely rejected as alien to socialist perception. Socialist revolutionaries gave a sardonic definition of the presumption of innocence — «Bourgeois rubbish». In this connection, let us turn to one of the speeches of V. I. Lenin: «…To shoot conspirators and hesitators, no one, without asking or allowing idiotic judicial delays» [1, p.165].

Such constructed ideological positions, where communist goals were considered to be the first priority, rather than the suspect’s guilt or innocence, displaced the principle of the presumption of innocence from Russian law.

After the end of World War II, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948, which affirmed the presumption of innocence as a fundamental and inalienable human right. This declaration proclaimed and systematized the foundations of rights and freedoms for every citizen.

The principle of the presumption of innocence was enshrined in article 160 of the 1977 USSR Constitution. The same wording was reproduced in article 173 of the 1978 RSFSR Constitution. «No one shall be found guilty of an offence or liable to a criminal penalty except on conviction by a court and in accordance with the law». Similar language has also been included in the constitutions of the Union republics.

In the Russian Federation, the principle of presumption of innocence is guaranteed under article 49 of the Constitution.

Thus, part 1 of article 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation states: «Every person accused of having committed a crime shall be considered innocent until his guilt has been proved in accordance with the procedure provided for by federal law and established by a court verdict that has entered into force».

The principle of the presumption of innocence, on the basis of this constitutional norm, is reflected in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, namely in article 14.

Article 14, paragraph 1, of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation states: «An accused person shall be considered innocent until his or her guilt in committing a crime has been proved in accordance with the procedure provided for by this Code and established by a court verdict that has entered into force».

Results of the study and their discussion.

In the course of the research:

— the history of the presumption of innocence as a legal institution has been studied;

— historical stages from ancient times to modern times have been considered;

— key historical normative legal acts have been investigated.

Conclusion

Thus, the genesis of the principle of presumption of innocence begins with antiquity and its legal system, continues through the legislation of the Russian Empire and the USSR, up to modern Russia. We have found that this legal principle is the result of a long process of development of legal thought, its consolidation linked to changes in public consciousness and legislative historical practice. For the time being, the genesis result is based on three ideal fundamental ideas enshrined in the Constitution, namely:

1. «Not guilty until proven guilty by the accuser»;
2. «The accused shall not be required to prove his innocence»;
3. «Any irrepressible doubt shall be interpreted in favor of the accused».