Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 09/19/2019

Subject: According to the Court, Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Directive 2012/13/EU on the right to information in criminal proceedings, and Directive 2013/48/EU on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in European arrest warrant proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation, which provides for judicial proceedings authorising, on therapeutic and safety grounds, the committal to a psychiatric hospital of persons who, in a state of insanity, have committed acts representing a danger to society, where that legislation does not enable the court with jurisdiction to verify that the procedural rights covered by those directives were respected in proceedings prior to those before that court, which were not subject to such judicial review. According to the Court, neither Directive (EU) 2016/343 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings, nor Article 51(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights applies to judicial proceedings for the committal to a psychiatric hospital for therapeutic purposes, on the ground that there is a risk that, in view of his state of health, the person concerned represents a danger to himself or others. The Court affirmed that the principle of the presumption of innocence must be interpreted as requiring, in judicial proceedings for the committal to a psychiatric hospital, on therapeutic and safety grounds, of persons who, in a state of insanity, have committed acts representing a danger to society that the Public Prosecutor’s Office provides proof that the person whose committal is sought is the perpetrator of acts deemed to constitute such a danger

Parties: Rayonna prokuratura Lom

Classification: Justice - Art. 48 Presumption of innocence - Rights of defence - General provisions - Art. 51 Scope

Text