CEDAW/C/73/D/100/2016 victims to be expressed during the proceedings. The legislature has established the order of criminal court proceedings and the types of criminal prosecution, which, depending on the gravity and the nature of the crime that is committed, may be public, private-public or private. 6.8 The type of criminal court proceedings in cases of private prosecution depend on the criminal case examined thereunder. Such crimes are often committed as a result of personality conflicts within the family or between neighbours or colleagues. Private prosecution cases are opened on the basis of the injured party’s claim. Private prosecutions are initiated in cases involving crimes that do not constitute a significant social danger and whose elucidation is not problematic in principle; for those reasons it is deemed that the injured party alone can bring the criminal prosecution. If any of the crimes in a case being examined under the private prosecution procedure are committed against a person who, because of his or her state of dependence or helplessness or for other reasons, cannot defend his or her rights or legal interests, the investigating authorities open a criminal case, even in the absence of a complaint by the injured party or his or her representatives. 6.9 In the light of the above considerations, the State party is of the view that the authors’ rights under the Convention have not been violated. Authors’ comments on the State party’s additional observations on admissibility and the merits 7.1 In a letter dated 31 March 2017, the authors provided comments on the State party’s observations on admissibility and the merits. The authors reiterate that they have exhausted all available remedies, to no avail. According to the State party, the authors could have also: (a) submitted a cassation appeal under article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code; and/or (b) pursued a private criminal prosecution. 7.2 On the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the authors affirm that a cassation appeal cannot assure the restoration of the authors’ rights and does not provide a reasonable prospect of a positive outcome in the case, given that it constitutes an extraordinary remedy and its effectiveness in similar cases could not be confirmed in the courts’ case law. In a cassation appeal under article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the judge cannot interfere in the investigation, annul or request the annulment of a decision that she or he considers unlawful or groundless or draw conclusions on the facts of the case, the evaluation of evidence or the qualification of the criminal acts. The court cannot oblige the opening ex officio of a criminal case or carry out specific procedural activities. For the same reasons, the European Court of Human Rights noted the ineffectiveness of the appeal proceedings under article 125 of the Code. 4 7.3 As to the reference of the State party to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Abramyan and others v. Russian Federation and to the Committee’s views in Medvedeva v. Russian Federation, the authors note that, unlike in the present case, which refers to criminal law, the cases cited addressed matters of civil law. In addition, the State party cited Abramyan and others v. Russian Federation as evidence of the effectiveness of cassation proceedings. According to the authors, the European Court of Human Rights has never declared that proceedings under article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code constitute an effective remedy to be exhausted prior to __________________ 4 12/18 European Court of Human Rights, Yefimova v. Russian Federation (application No. 39786/09), judgment of 19 February 2013; and Dobriyeva and others v. Russian Federation (application No. 18407/10), judgment of 19 December 2013. 19-15442