SUDSKA KONTROLA OPTUZNICE

The Criminal Procedure Act of 2008 has significantly changed the "intermediate stage" of the indictment and judicial control of the indictment, which constitutes the last phase of the reformed pre-trial proceedings. The authors first point out the importance of mandatory judicial review of the indictment, in ordinary and summary criminal proceedings, through which an independent and impartial judicial organ decides on the permissibility of the further criminal prosecution of the defendant for the criminal offence with which he or she is being charged. This protects the defendant from unfounded and unjust committal to the stage of trial. The paper includes an analysis of fundamental issues related to the control of the soundness of the indictment before the indictment panel, particularly the problem of the (non)adversarial character of the proceeding, or the non-guaranteed equality of arms of the parties, as well as the effects of such a legislative solution on the defendant's possibility to exercise basic procedural rights. Special attention is given to the disclosure of evidence, which significantly determines the informational basis for the decision of the indictment panel, and which is insufficiently regulated in legislation. The paper also contains an analysis of the issues related to the exclusion of illegal evidence from the part of the indictment panel, regarding the legally provided possibility and sense of the judicial "balancing" of one category of illegal evidence. The authors finally observe the general issue concerning the role of the indictment panel in selecting the evidence and other elements which will constitute the case file. The paper ends with concluding remarks. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]