The Beginning and Counting of the End of the Deadline to File a Complaint from the Perspective of the Constitutional Court
Abstract
The paper deals with the development of the case law of the Constitutional Court on the beginning and the end of the time limit for filing a complaint under Section 143(1) in conjunction with Section 137(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the case of orders that are served under the Code of Criminal Procedure, even though the person entitled to the complaint was previously informed of the content of the order at its oral pronouncement. This case-law was originally established by a constitutionally consistent interpretation of Section 137(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure in relation to the order rejecting the application for permission to reopen proceedings, but was gradually extended to other orders which are served under the Code of Criminal Procedure, namely orders on remand in custody, on conditional release from imprisonment, on conversion of alternative sentences to imprisonment and on ordering the execution of an originally conditionally suspended sentence of imprisonment.
According to this case-law, a realistic opportunity to be informed of the reasons for the decision contained in the decision criticised by the complaint is a prerequisite for the fulfilment of the meaning and purpose of the constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair trial (Articles 36(1) and 38(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms) and, within this framework, the right to a defence (Article 40(3) of the Charter), as well as the meaning and purpose of the right to lodge an appeal (complaint) against a first instance court decision. Familiarity with the written reasoning is essential for the complaint to be lodged in an informed manner, since the person entitled must be able to understand the court's reasoning and to consider the possibility of defending against it.
In the light of this case law, the draft of the forthcoming Code of Criminal Procedure contains a new wording of the existing Article 143(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to which a complaint must be lodged with the authority against whose order it is directed, within 8 days of the delivery of a copy of the order to the public prosecutor, the person directly affected by the order and the person who initiated the order by his/her motion, even if they were present when the order was pronounced (Article o5 of the draft, dealing with the time limit and place for lodging a complaint). The above-mentioned case-law of the Constitutional Court should be respected by the practice of the general courts in accordance with Article 89(2) of the Constitution of the Czech Republic until the adoption of this new legislation, which is not always the case.