Zaskarżanie wyroków zapadłych w trybach konsensualnych – standard europejski i prawo polskie

Abstract

The author deals with the right to appeal against judgments issued in negotiated case-ending settlements in the light of Art. 2 of Protocol No. 7 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Polish Constitution. The analysis includes ECHR case law which indicates that the possibility of appeal against court decisions is one of the guarantees of the right to defense. It also highlights the judgments of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court concerning the principle of two-instance appeal proceedings, the right to trial and the reformationis in peius prohibition. From these considerations it is concluded that the Polish Code of Criminal Procedure of 1997 meets, but only in ordinary mode of proceedings, both standards: the standard adopted in Protocol No. 7 of the Convention and the constitutional standard. Considerations also included changes in the consensual modes of criminal proceedings introduced by the reform of the Polish Code of Criminal Procedure of 27 September 2013, which points out, inter alia, that the primary limitation of the right to appeal against the judgments issued in these modes is amended Art. 447 § 5, in that it provides to persons convicted of using one of such modes of proceedings (Art. 343, Art. 343a and Art. 387 of the Code) non-appointment as grounds for appeal error of fact and fl agrant disproportion of penalties and of penal measures (art.438 paragraph .3 and 4), which are related to the content of the agreement. Such limitations justify the fear that such fi nal judgments may violate the principle of criminal accurate response (Article 2 § 1 point 1 of the Code), or the principle of material truth (Article 2 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).