Establishment of the causes of death by the court in the absence of expert report in the criminal process

The article analyzes rare cases in criminal proceedings - “murder without a corpse”. The author pays attention to the difficulty of solving the question of the guilt of the defendant in the case when the body of the victim is not found. A situation where the study of a corpse does not allow to establish the causes of death is considered. Analyzing the practice of investigation and judicial review of this category of cases, the author draws attention to the fact that the accusatory decision of the court often contains assumptions. In order to minimize the possibility of a judicial error, it is recommended to critically evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence for the conclusion of the guilt of a person. A court conviction should not cause doubts in its validity and assume the presence of other versions of the event under investigation. The article expressed a critical attitude to the use in proving situational examinations, not based on the research of the corpse. The author concludes that it is impossible to compile a single algorithm in proving for this category of cases. The article recognizes the need to generalize judicial practice and develop recommendations for investigators and judges. The legislator is invited to secure for the court the right to establish the cause of death in the absence of an expert opinion.