Functions of the court at pre-trial and trial stages of criminal procedure

Adversarial principle of equality of the participants at pre-trial and trial stages of criminal procedure is analyzed. The principle of equality as it is given in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation doesn’t give rise to unfavourable criticism; however, adversarial principle is clearly criticized in science. The author comes to the conclusion that in modern criminal procedure there is a disbalance in observance of adversarial principle of equality of the participants at its pre-trial and trial stages.