Disclosure of Pretrial Criminal Investigation Material and its Evaluation under Criminal Law
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Abstract
Pretrial criminal investigation is a topic which attracts discussions among lawyers and representatives of media. Mass media quite often publishes pretrial criminal investigation material. It happens quite often that classified information is disclosed even earlier than information is known to officials. From the ethical and legal point of view not only representatives of media should be blamed for this. Frequently this material is disclosed by officers conducting the investigation themselves. This act is considered criminal under the Criminal Code of Lithuania.
The exceptionality of the data of pre-trial criminal investigation is that it is collected for a specific purpose to make a legal evaluation of a certain act, which can only be done by a court. Use of this data for any other purpose apart from the purposes of criminal procedure is a violation of the presumption of innocence. It further constitutes a breach of the principle that justice is administered only by courts.
In the article, the author analyzes the theoretical and practical problems concerning the application of Article 247 of the Criminal Code, which makes disclosure of classified pre-trial material unlawful.
The author emphasizes that unlawful disclosure of classified pre-trial material for the purposes of publishing this information is against the interests of the law enforcement institutions themselves, discredits the impartiality of the criminal procedure and makes it more difficult or even impossible to carry on criminal proceedings due to violation of the presumption of innocence.
The author notes that it is the position of the Supreme Court that only the participants of the criminal procedure or other persons having seen the pre-trial investigation may be charged for breaching Article 247 of the Criminal Code. The author emphasizes that these are the law enforcement officers who need to decide themselves when to request the courts to classify certain pre-trial material and to what extent such classification should be made, in view of the circumstances of each criminal case. The understanding of the crime of disclosure of pretrial criminal investigation material without the permission of the competent state institutions also depends on the logical and systemic interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The exceptionality of the data of pre-trial criminal investigation is that it is collected for a specific purpose to make a legal evaluation of a certain act, which can only be done by a court. Use of this data for any other purpose apart from the purposes of criminal procedure is a violation of the presumption of innocence. It further constitutes a breach of the principle that justice is administered only by courts.
In the article, the author analyzes the theoretical and practical problems concerning the application of Article 247 of the Criminal Code, which makes disclosure of classified pre-trial material unlawful.
The author emphasizes that unlawful disclosure of classified pre-trial material for the purposes of publishing this information is against the interests of the law enforcement institutions themselves, discredits the impartiality of the criminal procedure and makes it more difficult or even impossible to carry on criminal proceedings due to violation of the presumption of innocence.
The author notes that it is the position of the Supreme Court that only the participants of the criminal procedure or other persons having seen the pre-trial investigation may be charged for breaching Article 247 of the Criminal Code. The author emphasizes that these are the law enforcement officers who need to decide themselves when to request the courts to classify certain pre-trial material and to what extent such classification should be made, in view of the circumstances of each criminal case. The understanding of the crime of disclosure of pretrial criminal investigation material without the permission of the competent state institutions also depends on the logical and systemic interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
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Articles
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Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to the Association for Learning Technology.
Please see Copyright and Licence Agreement for further details.
