Is the Judge Independent in Deciding the Form of the Trial?

The problem of ensuring the independence of judges when making decisions on the application of a special (simplified) procedure for trial in a criminal case is examined. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the imperfection of the criminal procedure law in terms of giving an objection (including an unmotivated one) of at least one of the victims or the prosecutor to the motion filed by the accused to apply a special procedure the significance of a prohibitive and insurmountable barrier to the application of such a procedure by the court, including for its continuation. For this purpose, general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, abstraction) and specific scientific methods (comparative legal, formal legal) were used. The author relied on the provisions on the special procedure, enshrined in the norms of Chapter 40 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Fe­deration, in paragraphs 11.2, 11.3 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 05.12.2006 No. 60 to describe the actions of a judge in cases where objections are identified by the victim or a state or private prosecutor against the application of a special procedure for proceedings by the court. The author comes to the conclusion that the regulation in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation of the procedure for taking into account the opinions of the prosecutor and the victim on the possibility or impossibility of applying a special procedure does not fully comply with the constitutional norms on the independence of judicial authorities and the principle of independence of judges. The need to amend Art. 314 and 316 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is substantiated.