Issues of Improving the Requirements for Citizens of the Russian Federation Recruited to the Public Service

This article raises the issue of the need for a more explicit and universal legal regulation of the fact of criminal prosecution in the extensive system of restrictions related to military and law enforcement service. The specifics of the civil service determines the special legal status of civil servants, therefore the state has the right to establish special rules in this area when filling public positions in the civil service. The principle of equality does not prevent the legislator from establishing differences in the legal status of persons belonging to categories which differ in terms of conditions and professions, provided that such differences are objectively justified, reasonable and consistent with constitutionally significant objectives. The article clearly shows that the same restriction has different wording depending on a particular law enforcement agency, which of course cannot be considered acceptable and is not objectively necessary, but introduces significant uncertainty in law enforcement practice. At the junction of related categories of criminal and criminal procedural law (conviction, criminal prosecution; exemption from criminal liability, exemption from criminal punishment) and constitutional law, a clear uncertainty was revealed. The termination of a criminal case for any reason should not entail a trail of negative consequences, even if it directly, from a formal position, does not violate the rights of a particular citizen. Separately, the author highlights the topical issue of correlation and reflection of the fact of criminal prosecution in the decriminalization of crimes.