10 years since the adoption of the code of criminal procedure of the Republic of Lithuania: theoretical and practical problems in the pre-trial stage
Abstract
May 1, 2013 earmarks a 10 year period since the adoption of major Acts of the
Republic of Lithuania regulating criminal prosecution, namely Act No. VIII-1968 or the Criminal
Code adopted on September 26, 2000, Act No. IX-785 or the Code of Criminal Procedure and Act No.
IX-994 or the Code of the Enforcement of Sentences adopted on June 27, 20021. The present article
deals with the major elements of and distinctions between pre-trial procedures regulated by the old and
modern Criminal Codes of the Republic of Lithuania. Other legal Acts, particularly recommendations
approved by Prosecutor General's ordinances, are also analyzed. Additionally, the article addresses
amendments and modifications to the Code of Criminal Procedure made before mid-October 2013.
The survey reveals that during the last decade, 37 amendments and modifications have been made to
over 360 articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The article specifically focuses on the purpose
and models of the pre-trial investigation and legal statuses, interaction and results of actual
performance of the subjects involved into the process. The summary of the ten year changes in the
regulation of the pre-trial procedures comes up with the assumption that apart from some positive
shifts in the regulation of the criminal procedure, essential changes validating pre-trial investigator's
greater autonomy and lesser dependence on the prosecution office and a more consistent model of the
prosecutor's role mostly preconditioning the poor results of the criminal prosecution are still to be
adopted. The article specifies essential problems to be addressed in the procedural regulation of the
pre-trial stage: a clear determination of the procedural roles of the subjects involved into criminal
proceedings (in particular, the roles of the investigator, chief investigator, pre-trial investigator and the
prosecutor), relevant and optimal correlations of the roles and improvement of the legal status of the
aggrieved party.
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