The Harmonization of Public and Private Foundations of Criminal Proceedings in the Rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation

The key issue for procedural law scholars, regardless of the topic of their research, is a search for balance between publicity and dispositivity in criminal proceedings. Many doctrinal positions regarding the nature and interconnection of the public and the dispositive foundations of criminal proceedings are reflected in the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on various aspects, stages and proceedings of criminal cases. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation stresses the following: the necessity of maintaining the balance between the constitutionally protected values, public and private interests, public interests and rights and lawful interests of criminal proceedings’ participants; the requirement of reaching this balance should act as one of the criteria of determining the powers of persons carrying out the criminal proceedings, alongside the requirements of effective implementation of the public functions of justice, optimization of the court load and procedural economy; the subjects should be guaranteed a right to participate in resolving the public-legal task regarding criminal infringements; it is inadmissible that the interests of public authority should be viewed separately from the individual interests, rights and liberties of a specific person; the public character of proceedings in different categories of criminal cases should allow for the inclusion of elements of dispositivity; public-legal goals of criminal proceedings include the private interest of protecting the rights and lawful interests of crime victims, as well as the protection of an individual against unlawful and unsubstantiated accusation, conviction, restriction of their rights and liberties. The analysis of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and of legislation allows the authors to state that a balance between public and private legal interests could be ensured by observing the following conditions: procedural effectiveness; economy of the use of court protection means, transparency of the administration of justice, as well as the exclusion of protraction and unjustified resumption of court proceedings.