MOSCOW, May 25 (RAPSI, Alena Savelyeva) – Russia’s Business Rights Commissioner Boris Titov has proposed to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure with a provision making it possible to conduct distant interrogations via videoconference systems approved by law enforcement agencies, according to the Ombudsman’s press service.

Titov believes that the changes in the legislation are to permit interrogation of persons, when they are abroad.

The fact that Russian citizens outside Russia, among them those on the London List, when involved in criminal processes heard by national courts, face the problem of being unable to properly defend themselves has been frequently registered in the annual reports of his office, the Business Rights Commissioner notes.

According to the Business Ombudsman, the move is to prevent “unlawful and unmotivated” refusals to conduct distant interrogations on the part of investigators.

The so-called London List is a conventional name for a register of ex-Russian entrepreneurs residing abroad while under criminal investigation in the Russian Federation, who wish to return to their home country if provided guarantees that they are not to be placed in detention.