Another case initiated on the right to inspect the case file in proceedings regarding criminally acquired property
On 8 April 2022, the 2nd Panel of the Constitutional Court initiated the case “On compliance of Section 627, Paragraph four and five of the Criminal Procedure Law with the first sentence of Article 92 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia”.
The contested provisions
According to Section 627, Paragraph four of the Criminal Procedure Law, the case materials in proceedings regarding criminally acquired property shall be an investigative secret, and the person directing the proceedings, a prosecutor and a court examining the case may get acquainted with the case. The persons referred to in Section 628 of this Law may become acquainted with the case materials with the permission of the person directing the proceedings and in the amount specified thereby.
Section 627, Paragraph five of the Criminal Procedure Law determines: “The decision of the person directing the proceedings on rejecting a request to become acquainted with the case materials may be appealed to the district (city) court which examines proceedings regarding criminally acquired property. // The court shall take the decision to fully or partially satisfy the complaint, or to dismiss it. The decision shall not be subject to appeal. For the court to decide whether becoming acquainted with the case materials endangers the fundamental rights of other persons, the public interests or interferes with the achievement of the objective of criminal proceedings, the court may request the materials of the criminal case and become acquainted with them.” (hereinafter together – the contested norms).
Provision with a higher legal force
The first sentence of Article 92 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (hereinafter – the Constitution): “Everyone has the right to defend his or her rights and lawful interests in a fair court.”
The facts of the case
The property of the Applicant has been seized by decision of the person directing the proceedings. Subsequently, the person directing the proceedings decided to initiate proceedings regarding criminally acquired property in respect of the said property and to transfer the materials regarding criminally acquired property to the court for adjudication.
The applicants asked the person directing the proceedings to allow them to inspect all the materials of the proceedings for criminally acquired property. The decision of the person directing the proceedings granted their request in part – they were allowed to inspect the materials of the criminal proceedings to a certain extent. The applicants appealed against this decision to the court hearing the proceeding for the criminally acquired property. Vidzeme Suburb Court of Riga City dismissed the appeal. Subsequently, the person directing the proceedings submitted new materials to the court, and the Applicants again requested the person directing the proceedings to allow them to get acquainted with the materials. This request was rejected by the decision of the person directing the proceedings. The Applicants also appealed against this decision to the Court, which dismissed the appeal.
The Applicants hold a view that the contested provisions deny access to the case materials substantiating the information on the criminal origin of the property. These legal provisions provide for the possibility of denying access to a number of essential case files on which the allegations of the criminal origin of the property of the person directing the proceedings are based. In this way, the right to a fair trial of the Applicants included in the first sentence of Article 92 of the Constitution has been infringed.
Judicial proceedings
The Constitutional Court has requested the institution, which issued the contested act, i.e., the Parliament, to submit to the Constitutional Court its written reply presenting the facts of the case and legal reasoning by 8th of June, 2022.
- The term for preparing the case is 8th of September, 2022.
The Court shall decide on the procedure and date for hearing the case after the case is prepared.
- The decision on initiation of the case is available here.
Press release in PDF available here.
Linked case: 2022-14-01