Case C-348/21: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 8 December 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Sofiyski gradski sad — Bulgaria) — Criminal proceedings against HYA, IP, DD, ZI, SS (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Directive (EU) 2016/343 — Strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings — Article 8(1) — Right of an accused person to be present at the trial — Second paragraph of Article 47 and Article 48(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Right to a fair trial and rights of the defence — Examination of witnesses for the prosecution in the absence of the accused person and his or her lawyer at the pre-trial stage of the criminal proceedings — Impossibility of examining witnesses for the prosecution during the judicial stage of those proceedings — National legislation allowing a criminal court to base its decision on the prior testimony of those witnesses)
Date: 2022-12-08
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: charge, criminal proceedings, evidence, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU, right to justice, rights of the defence








C_2023035EN.01000901.xml










30.1.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 35/9






Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 8 December 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Sofiyski gradski sad — Bulgaria) — Criminal proceedings against HYA, IP, DD, ZI, SS
(Case C-348/21) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Judicial cooperation in criminal matters - Directive (EU) 2016/343 - Strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings - Article 8(1) - Right of an accused person to be present at the trial - Second paragraph of Article 47 and Article 48(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Right to a fair trial and rights of the defence - Examination of witnesses for the prosecution in the absence of the accused person and his or her lawyer at the pre-trial stage of the criminal proceedings - Impossibility of examining witnesses for the prosecution during the judicial stage of those proceedings - National legislation allowing a criminal court to base its decision on the prior testimony of those witnesses)
(2023/C 35/09)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Sofiyski gradski sad

Parties in the main proceedings

HYA, IP, DD, ZI, SS

Intervener: Spetsializirana prokuratura

Operative part of the judgment

Article 8(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/343 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings, read in conjunction with the second paragraph of Article 47 and Article 48(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as meaning that:
it precludes the application of national legislation which allows a national court, where it is not possible to examine a witness for the prosecution during the judicial stage of criminal proceedings, to base its decision on the guilt or innocence of the accused person on the testimony of that witness obtained during a hearing before a judge during the preliminary stage of those proceedings, but without the participation of the accused person or his lawyer, unless there is a serious ground justifying the failure to hear the witness at the judicial stage of the criminal proceedings, the testimony of that witness does not constitute the sole or determining basis for the conviction of the accused person, and there are sufficient compensatory elements to offset the difficulty caused to that person and his or her lawyer as a result of the taking into account of that testimony.


(1)  OJ C 338, 23.8.2021.