PRACTICE OF (NON) ADMISSIBILITY OF INDIVIDUAL CONSTITUTIONAL COMPLAINTS REGARDING THE LAW OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE IN LITHUANIA

Abstract

With the introduction of the institute of individual constitutional complaint in the Lithuanian legal system, an additional opportunity arose for individuals to defend violated constitutional rights or freedoms, disputing the constitutionality of the legal regulation of criminal proceedings. Analyzing the practice of individual constitutional complaints regarding the constitutionality of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter – CCP) formed by the Constitutional Court, various reasons for their non-acceptance become apparent. Complaints are usually rejected on the grounds that the petitioners misinterpret the disputed legal regulation, raise the issue of its application rather than constitutionality, or associate the violation of their constitutional rights or freedoms with decisions that are not adopted on the basis of the disputed legal regulation or are not final. This article focuses on the requirement to use all the means of protection of one’s constitutional rights or freedoms established by law before applying to the Constitutional Court. Taking into account that, according to the CCP, certain decisions of a court or pre-trial investigation judge are final and not subject to appeal, this paper seeks to establish whether they are considered as such in the context of constitutional disputes. Although a person is not required to exercise the possibility of reopening a criminal case before filing an individual constitutional complaint, in certain cases decisions adopted in accordance with the legal regulation regulating it must be considered final within the meaning of Law on the Constitutional Court.