Principles Of Criminal Procedure Policy Of Austria

Abstract

This article analyzes the principles of criminal procedure policy of Austria, the experience of this country can be used to improve the criminal procedure policy of Ukraine.

The latest trends in the construction of criminal procedure policy in Austria, ultimately, as well as in all EU member states, is to take into account the decisive influence of EU acts. First of all, the basic, framework document - the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which is a document of direct action. This Convention contains a number of defining principles of criminal procedure policy: 1) the rule of law; 2) legality; 3) equality before the law and the court; 4) prohibition of torture; 5) ensuring the right to liberty and security of person; 6) the right to a fair trial; 7) inviolability of the home or other property of a person; 8) the secret of communication; 9) non-interference in private life; 10) inviolability of property right; 11) the right to effective legal means of protection.

The Federal Constitutional Law of Austria of 1920 laid the foundation for the principles of the criminal procedure policy of this country. Such principles include the following provisions: 1) a centralized system of construction a judicial system based on federal law; 2) inadmissibility of revoking the right on the lawful judge; 3) the possibility of creating “exceptional” courts in criminal cases; 4) independence of judges in the administration of justice; 5) oral and publicity of the trial in criminal proceedings; 6) construction of a criminal trial on the basis of the prosecution procedure; 7) people’s access to the administration of justice through juries; 8) consolidation of the Supreme Court as the highest court in criminal proceedings and its personal jurisdiction over the highest officials of the state; 9) separation of judicial and administrative bodies.

Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Austria in Section 1 «General and Principles of Procedure», in fact, establishes the principles on which are based the Austrian criminal procedure and criminal procedure policy, in particular: 1) the principle of the obligation to investigate any suspicion by the criminal police and the prosecutor’s office within their powers and to conduct judicial proceedings on the basis of an indictment; 2) the principle of objectivity and the study of truth; 3) the principle of accusation; 4) the principle of legality and proportionality; 5) the right to be heard. This principle is also called the right to be heard in court; 6) right to protection; 7) presumption of innocence; 8) the principle of required speed; 9) the right of the victim to participate in criminal proceedings; 10) participation of jurors and judge assessors (schoffen) as representatives of the nation in the administration of justice; 11) the principle of orality and publicity; 12) the principle of immediacy; 13) the principle of free evaluation of evidence; 14) the principle of prejudice; 15) the principle of prohibition of turning for the worse; 16) the principle of prohibition of re-persecution.

Thus, the criminal procedure policy of Austria is based on the principles enshrined in: 1) EU legal acts, first of all, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Such principles should be called European convention principles of criminal procedure policy; 2) Federal Constitutional Law of 1920 (Constitution of Austria). The described principles should be called the constitutional principles of the criminal procedure policy of Austria; 3) the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Austria and other legislative acts, which define in detail the directions of construction and implementation of the criminal procedure policy of Austria. Such principles can be described as special principles of the Austrian criminal procedure policy.