The asymmetry of the rights of the victim and the accused (suspect)

The Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation has considerably extended the rights of crime victim, making him a more active participant of the criminal trial. However, the analysis of legislation and law enforcement practice shows that in Russia the victims, both de jure and de facto are disadvantaged, the level of legal protection of the victim is significantly lower than the suspect's and that of the accused. The constitutional principle of trial proceedings on the basis of adversarial nature and equality of the parties presupposes parity of rights of the victim and the accused (suspect) as the parties to the criminal legal dispute.