Challenges of the Knowledge Society (Jun 2023)
IS IT MANDATORY FOR THE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION BODY TO ISSUE A CRIMINAL INDICTMENT ORDER?
Abstract
Pursuant to the legal provisions, in view of facilitating the criminal prosecution of persons who commit criminal offences, the filing of a Crime Information Report as a result of which the perpetrator is indicted triggers the remission by half of the sentence limits applicable to the criminal offence (or criminal offences) the Informant is charged with. The crucial element is that the Crime Information Report may only trigger the remission of the sentence if the person concerned by the Crime Information Report is indicted, time-wise, before the closing of the criminal proceedings in which the accused person who filed the Crime Information Report is tried. In this context, it is paramount for the Informant who has the status of an accused person that the filed Crime Information Report be materialised at least in the indictment of the person concerned by the Crime Information Report by the time the judgement in the trial of the accused has become final. This study was based on a practical situation which, in the summary, presented the following characteristics: a) the accused person, who was prosecuted for having committed drug offences, filed a Crime Information Report concerned with the commission of drug trafficking offences; b) after having been notified by means of a Crime Information Report, the criminal prosecution bodies collected clear evidence from which it followed that the person concerned by the Crime Information Report was indeed committing drug trafficking offences. Against this background and having analysed the framework of the criminal procedural law, we concluded that the indictment of the person concerned by the Crime Information Report (who, after further prosecution, was conferred the status of a suspect) was mandatory. Furthermore, as to when the criminal charges were brought against the person concerned by the Crime Information Report (so as to materialise the Crime Information Report into concrete action), the case-law pointed out to the existence of relatively short periods - a few days to maximum 1 year - from the time inculpatory evidence was collected and until criminal charges were brought.
