According to order of the Supreme Court, the University of Latvia conducted a study “On the case-law in application of Sections 464 and 465 of the Criminal Procedure Law”. The study was developed by Professor Dr.iur. Kristine Strada-Rozenberga.

Section 463, part I of the Criminal Procedure Law states that the participation of defendant in hearing of criminal case is mandatory. The goal of compiling the case-law was to identify the case-law in application of Sections 464 and 465 of the Criminal Procedure Law, namely in hearing the cases  without the participation of the defendant and in absentia of the defendant, in order  to identify issues of case-law and possible shortcomings of the procedural framework.

When assessing the compliance of case-law with the legal provisions in force, the analysis of provisions of criminal procedure was carried out, focusing mainly on the analysis of provisions of national level. Generally 116 decisions of Latvian courts have been analyzed and selected by the Supreme Court. The corpus of analyzed decisions include decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as decisions of Latvian courts that are entered into force (with certain exceptions) and adopted by the court of first instance and appeals court.

Also overall conclusions of Kristine Strada-Rozenberga regarding case-law on these issues are included in the study.

The compilation of the case-law was discussed at the meeting of judges of the Department of Criminal Cases on 1 February 2017; and in order to prevent unfounded restriction of the rights of the defendant and violations of rights to fair trial, the recommendations for the courts are included in the published compilation.

Compilation (in Latvian) is available on the webpage of the Supreme Court; section Judicature/Compilation of Court Decisions/Criminal law

 

In order to provide a comparative insight into the provision of fundamental rights in these matters, the Division of the Case-law and Research of the Supreme Court has prepared a study on case-law of international courts in hearing the criminal cases without the participation of a defendant and in absentia of a defendant.

The study aims to identify the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union and other international courts, which can be useful in application of Sections 464 and 465 of the Criminal Procedure Law. The compilation is based on theses of decisions by the European Court of Human Rights in cases decided until May 2016. Compilation addresses issues such as the government's obligation to communicate with defendant and inform him/her about the proceedings, defendant’s waiver of rights to participate in hearing, the right to legal aid provided by defender, the right to review the case on its merits, as well as rights of persons, whose criminal case is tried in their absence, to proceedings in cassation instance. The study provides insight into similar cases regarding the procedural framework of international courts.

The study is prepared by the advisor to the Division of Case-law and Research Mag.iur. Aleksandrs Potaicuks. 

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211