Judicial review on the basis of Article 79(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the context of consequences of Article 439(1)(10) of the Code of Criminal Procedure: Remarks against the background of Supreme Court case law

Abstract

The article discusses – from the point of view of Supreme Court case law - the proceedings in the area of judicial review of psychiatric expert witnesses’ opinions (Article 79(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure). This is a matter of significant importance, because procedural errors committed at this stage of the proceedings have very serious procedural consequences in the form of a procedural fault, which is classified as a so-called absolute ground of appeal under Article 439(1)(10) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in conjunction with Article 79(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which leads to the revocation of the appealed judgment, regardless of the objections raised in the appeal. The discussion of the procedure with reference to the decisions of the Supreme Court makes it possible to proceed in such a way as to prevent the negative consequences of repeating trials only due to the inappropriate execution of the review mentioned in Article 79(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.