Private prosecution or a denial of justice?

The main problem in cases of private prosecution production in Russia is the lack of protection of the victim's right for access to justice and to legal protection arising in connection with the transposition of the responsibility to collect evidence and present it in the proceedings on the private prosecutor. The legislator has not provided the private prosecutor with the sufficient "tools" for independent activity, failed to create a mechanism which would assure that the private prosecutor gets necessary assistance in collecting evidence from the bodies of inquiry and/or pre-trial investigation bodies as well as assistance to present it in court. The main problem in cases of private prosecution production in Russia is the lack of protection of the victim's right for access to justice and to legal protection arising in connection with the transposition of the responsibility to collect evidence and present it in the proceedings on the private prosecutor. The article analyses the practice of proceedings in cases of private prosecution, demonstrating that the legislator has not provided the private prosecutor with the sufficient "tools" for performing the prosecution independently, and failed to create a mechanism which would assure that the private prosecutor gets necessary assistance in collecting evidence from the bodies of inquiry and/or pre-trial investigation bodies as well as assistance to present it in court. There are no guarantees allowing to carry out court proceedings in cases of private prosecution within a reasonable time. Basing on the research, the author proposes a mechanism providing assistance by the state for the victim in cases of private prosecution, the lack of which nullifies the victim's right for the access.

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