Criminal liability for offenses against people's assessors: is decriminalization possible?

The article is devoted to the actual issue of abolition of criminal liability for offences against people’s assessors. Thus, the article examines the establishment and functioning of the institute of people’s assessors as one of the mechanisms for ensuring the independence of justice, as well as the impact of the consequences of its abolition on the sustainability of guarantees of the independence of justice. The authors substantiate that there is no direct causal link between abolition of the institute of people’s assessors and the need to decriminalize criminal offences against such persons. The authors point out that criminal law protects not only the holders of the relevant legal status, but primarily legal relations in the administration of justice. While the abolition of criminal liability has a retroactive effect, but protection of independence of the juditiary – does not.