The pre-trial stage is the part of criminal proceedings between opening of the case and the start of the court proceedings. During the pre-trial stage, the police, other criminal prosecuting body or the prosecutor lead your case.
Decision on victim’s status, named ”injured party”
The decision to grant you official victim status, named ”injured party”, is usually taken during the pre-trial stage. If you want to appeal a decision refusing to grant you the status of a victim, you can do that depending on who took the decision. You can appeal it to:
- the supervising prosecutor if the decision was taken by the investigator
- a higher prosecutor, if the decision was taken by the prosecutor
Both the prosecutor’s and the higher-ranking prosecutor’s decisions may be further appealed.
Criminal prosecution
The criminal prosecution stage is the pre-trial stage of the criminal proceedings. This is when the police or another prosecution body are trying to establish what happened in the case. It will be carried out by the police, the prosecutor or by another special institution, for example, a specialized anti-corruption body, depending on various criteria, such as the type of offence, its severity or the status of the offender. The prosecutor is responsible for carrying out or leading the investigation and therefore all complaints about the actions of the members of the investigation team should be addressed to the prosecutor.
example If you think that the actions of a police officer in the framework of the criminal prosecution have violated your rights then you should submit a complaint to the prosecutor in charge of your case.
If you think that your rights have been violated by certain actions or decisions of the investigator in charge of the case, you should submit a complaint to the same prosecutor in charge of your case.
example If the investigator has refused to allow you to participate in some of the investigative actions without giving reasons for such a decision, you can submit a complaint to the prosecutor in charge of your case.
When the prosecutor considers, eventually at police proposal, that the accumulated evidence is conclusive and sufficient to prove that the offence was committed by a certain individual, the prosecutor will issue an ordinance on bringing of official criminal charges. At this stage, if additional gathered evidence or procedural activities lead to the same conclusion of an offence committed by a certain individual, the case is prepared for court and the prosecutor will issue the indictment against the accused.
Complaints against the prosecutor’s unlawful or violating your rights actions
If you think that certain actions or decisions of the prosecutor are unlawful and violate your rights, you should submit a complaint to a higher-ranking public prosecutor. If you do not know who the higher-ranking prosecutor is, you can also lodge your written complaint with the same challenged prosecutor, which will forward your complaint to the higher-ranking responsible prosecutor.
example If the prosecutor has denied you access to the part of the case file, which relates to the crime from which you have suffered, you should submit a complaint to a higher-ranking prosecutor directly or by lodging the complaint to the same challenged prosecutor.
The higher-ranking prosecutor’s ordinance may be appealed to the investigative judge. Only certain decisions of an investigative judge issued in the framework of complaint procedures against prosecution bodies’ acts can be appealed. Namely, following investigative judge’s decisions on challenges against prosecutor’s ordinances are subject to appeal to the relevant Court of Appeal:
- on refusal to start the criminal investigation
- on surrender of suspicion or charges towards a specific person
- on closer of the criminal investigation
- on cessation of the criminal case
- on resumption of the criminal investigation
Procedures and time limits
All decisions that can be appealed, as a general matter of practice, contain information about the procedure and the time-limits for their appeal. Nevertheless, you should always see the exact provision of the law or consult your lawyer to countercheck the applicable time-limit. It is very important to observe the time limits allowed for all types of claims.
Decisions of the prosecutor may be appealed to the higher-ranking prosecutor within 15 days of the date that you received the decision.
If you want to complain about ordinance of the higher-ranking prosecutor or their lack of response, you should submit the complaint to the investigative judge within 10 days of the day you found out about that ordinance or should have received the response respectively. If the investigative judge’s decision on challenge against prosecutor’s ordinance is subject to appeal (see the list above), you must submit you application within 15 days from the delivery.
Complaints about the actions in breach of prosecutor’s professional ethics and discipline
If you want to complain about certain actions in breach of professional ethics and discipline (but not decisions) of a prosecutor, you should submit a complaint to the Superior Council of Prosecutors.
example If a prosecutor has used derogatory language against you during the proceedings, you should complain about that to the Superior Council of Prosecutors.