How to complain about an investigator to the prosecutor if your evidence is ignored

If an investigator refuses to add your evidence to the case file or ignores your motions, you can complain about his actions to the head of the investigative unit and to the prosecutor supervising the investigation, and after that to a higher prosecutor. The prosecutor has the power to overturn an unlawful decision and give the investigator binding instructions. Below: how to file a motion properly, what to put in a complaint, where to send it, and what to do if the prosecutor's office does not help.

What can you complain about, and to whom?

Any participant in criminal proceedings may challenge a procedural action or decision of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor or court, and motions and complaints may be filed at any stage (Article 27 of the Criminal Procedure Code). Suspects and accused persons have this right (Articles 46 and 48), as do victims (Article 55) and witnesses (Article 66).

Where to file depends on whom you are complaining about (Article 358):

• an investigator — to the head of the investigative unit and to the prosecutor supervising the investigation of that case;
• a prosecutor — to a higher prosecutor;
• a refusal to open a criminal case — to the prosecutor, and a prosecutor's refusal to a higher prosecutor (Article 338).

Once he has the complaint, the prosecutor can (Article 382): set aside an unlawful or unfounded decision of the investigator; give written instructions to carry out investigative steps; remove the investigator from the case if he has broken the law. The prosecutor's instructions are binding on the investigator. Under the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, a prosecutor's decision on a complaint can be appealed to a higher prosecutor, all the way up to the Prosecutor General.

How to file a motion to add evidence to the case

Before complaining, make sure your motion was filed in a way that cannot simply be "overlooked". The law is on your side: evidence collected and submitted by defence counsel must be added to the case file and must be assessed (Article 87 of the Code, Article 6 of the Law on the Bar). A lawyer also has the right to receive reasoned written answers from officials to his motions and complaints.

How to do it:

1. In writing only. A verbal request is easy to forget. State the case number, the investigator's full name and your status in the case.
2. List each document and say what fact it proves. "I ask that the bank statement for March be added to the file — it shows the money was transferred to the supplier, not misappropriated."
3. Ask for a specific action: add the documents, question named witnesses, order an expert examination, obtain camera footage.
4. Ask for a reasoned decision if the request is refused. Under Article 202, a record is drawn up when documents are submitted, and a refusal to add an item or document as physical evidence must be made by a formal decision. Audit reports and other documents submitted as written evidence are added to the file without any special formalities.
5. Hand it in against a stamp. Your copy should show the date, a signature and an incoming reference number. If you send it by post, use registered mail with a list of enclosures.

Example. Suppose you are accused of failing to return an advance payment for renovation work, and you have signed acts of completed work and correspondence with the client. The investigator told you verbally that "this isn't needed". File a written motion with those documents and a list of enclosures. If after a few days there is no answer, or a refusal with no reasons, you have grounds for a complaint to the prosecutor — with a copy of the motion bearing the receipt stamp.

How quickly must they respond?

It matters to know where the law gives exact figures and where it does not:

• Motions at the end of the investigation. After you have read the case file, you may be given up to three days to prepare motions. If a motion is refused, the investigator issues a decision and informs you no later than three days after it was filed. The refusal can be appealed to the prosecutor within two days of being informed of the decision (Article 377). For an inquiry, the preparation period is up to two days (Article 381-14).
• Complaints about a preventive measure. The prosecutor must consider them within three days and inform you of the decision (Article 241).
• Motions during the investigation. The Code sets no single deadline for considering them. That is why the receipt stamp matters so much: it fixes the date from which the investigator knew of your request.

The general deadlines in the Law on Appeals of Individuals and Legal Entities — 15 days, or up to a month if a check is needed — do not apply to complaints within a criminal case: the law expressly excludes appeals whose procedure is set by criminal procedure legislation. If you write to the prosecutor's office about a matter outside a criminal case, those deadlines do apply.

How to write a complaint to the prosecutor

A complaint should not be long. Prosecutors read a lot of correspondence, so the more specific, the better. Structure:

1. Heading: to whom — the district (city, regional) prosecutor, naming the office; from whom — full name, status in the case, address, phone.
2. Case: the criminal case number and who is investigating it.
3. What happened: dates and facts. "On 12 October I filed a motion to add six documents (copy attached). There has been no reply / On 20 October I received a refusal with no reasons."
4. Why this is a breach: references to the law — Articles 87 and 202 of the Code, and your rights under Article 46, 48 or 55.
5. What you are asking for: to set aside the refusal, to instruct that the evidence be added and assessed, that witnesses be questioned, and to receive a written reply.
6. Enclosures: a stamped copy of the motion, the refusal decision, the documents themselves or a list of them.
7. Date and signature.

Keep it calm and factual. Claims like "the investigator has a personal interest" without evidence only weaken a complaint.

Where and how to file: in person, by post or online

• In person — at the registry of the prosecutor's office supervising the case. Ask for a receipt stamp on your copy. Prosecutors also hold personal receptions for citizens (Article 7 of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office).
• By post — registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt and a list of enclosures.
• Online — through the appeals section of the Prosecutor General's Office website, prokuratura.uz. The Prosecutor General's Office also takes appeals on the short number 1007. Another channel is the President's Virtual Reception (pm.gov.uz), which forwards appeals to the competent body.

Filing online is convenient, but for a complaint in a specific case a paper copy with a receipt stamp is more reliable: it is easier to attach documents to it and to show it to a court later.

What if the prosecutor does not help?

1. A higher prosecutor. Appeal the district prosecutor's answer to the regional or Tashkent city prosecutor's office, and then to the Prosecutor General's Office. Once the Prosecutor General has decided, the prosecution service closes the complaint, except where new circumstances come to light.
2. The court. When the case goes to court, all motions and complaints are sent along with it (Article 388). In court the same motions can be filed again, and the court must consider each one (Article 438). At a preliminary hearing, the parties' requests to obtain additional evidence that matters for the case must be granted, and inadmissible evidence can be excluded (Articles 405-3 and 405-6).
3. Inadmissible evidence. If prosecution evidence was obtained unlawfully — for example, in breach of the right to a defence — raise its inadmissibility (Article 95-1). The decision on such a motion must give reasons.

When it is hard to manage without a lawyer

A complaint to the prosecutor works when it is precise: the right provisions, dates and enclosures. Acting alone is risky if the investigation is close to its end and deadlines are counted in days, if the legal classification of the charge depends on the evidence that was not accepted, if you are in custody, or if the investigator has already refused several times. A lawyer is entitled to gather evidence himself — to request documents from organisations and interview people with their consent — and the investigator must add such material to the file and assess it. More on our criminal defence page.

In short

• A complaint about an investigator goes to the head of the investigative unit and the supervising prosecutor; about a prosecutor — to a higher prosecutor.
• File a motion to add evidence in writing, with a list and an explanation of what each document proves; keep a stamped copy.
• Evidence submitted by defence counsel must be added to the file and assessed; a refusal is made by formal decision.
• Exact deadlines exist for motions at the end of the investigation (3 days) and complaints about preventive measures (3 days); there is no general deadline for motions during the investigation.
• If the prosecutor's office does not help, the motions can be repeated in court, which must consider each one.

Photo: Free-Photos, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)