CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL RESTITUTION OF THE VICTIM’s RIGHTS

The article deals with the problem of the secondary position of a victim in the domestic criminal proceedings. The state does not pay due attention to the issue of compensation for harm to victims of crime. Meanwhile, the tasks of punishing a guilty and restoring the rights of a victim should be solved in parallel. To this end, the author proposes to implement the mediation institution into the Russian criminal procedure. Special attention is paid to the fact that mediation in criminal proceedings cannot become an equivalent substitute for criminal prosecution. The conclusion of a mediation agreement is an additional way to compensate a victim for harm, rather than an opportunity for an accused to avoid punishment. In this regard, the importance of state regulation and formalization of the mediation institution is emphasized. The author examines at what stages of the criminal procedure and under what conditions it is possible to conclude an agreement between a victim and an accused. It is emphasized that a victim should receive fair compensation for harm even if such compensation from a guilty is impossible. Therefore, the state should take subsidiary participation in the restoration of the victims’ rights by creating a fund to support victims of crimes or by developing a law providing for appropriate payments.