The historical development of the criminal process has led to the idea of the public nature of the criminal justice system. The view that the state is the injured party in criminal cases evolved to a stage where the public prosecutor was given a monopoly of the criminal charge (Krapac, 1985; Sebba, 1982). International and supranational organisations, in particular the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the United Nations have adopted various victims’ rights instruments. The most significant European instrument on victims’ rights is arguably the Directive 2012/29/EU of 25 October 2012,establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (Androulakis, 2014; Buczma, 2013).
