Information regarding the regulatory resolution of the Constitutional Court
(№ 42 of 24 April 2024)
The Constitutional Court considered an application by a lawyer to review the constitutionality of the third part of Article 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter - the CCP).
According to the subject of the appeal, the lawyer filed a motion with the court of first instance to transfer the criminal case from the main trial stage to the preliminary hearing stage in order to resolve the issue of combining the case in question with another related criminal case and prosecuting other persons for similar facts. The courts dismissed the application on the grounds that only the prosecution could file such an application and, in his view, the said exclusive powers of the prosecutor violated the principle of equality of all before the law and the right to judicial defence.
The Court considers that this article of the CCP should be considered in conjunction with other provisions of the criminal law. In particular, with the one stating that criminal prosecution, defence and resolution of the case by the court are separate from each other and are carried out by different subjects. The fact that it is the prosecution that takes the initiative in connecting the case under consideration with another criminal case and bringing other persons to criminal responsibility is due to an objective factor: possible deterioration of the legal position of the defendant or other person who is not a defendant in the case under consideration by the court, as well as the division of the criminal procedural rights of the participants in the process.Only the prosecution can determine who and for what to prosecute in a particular proceeding. At the same time, the norms of the CCP allow taking into account the position of the defence.
The Constitutional Court recognised the third part of Article 340 of the CCP as being in conformity with the Constitution.