If guilt admission agreements are signed, the accused person can have the punishment limit reduced by one third if the court accepts the agreement. This is one of the three simplified procedures that are designed to optimize the examination of criminal cases, IPN reports.
The second procedure – legal agreement of public interest – will be applied only to legal entities for committing such offenses as tax evasion of enterprises, institutions and organizations, money laundering, active corruption, influence peddling or bribery.
Trying based on evidence collected at the investigation stage, which is another simplified procedure, will take place only if the offenders fully accept the charges, ask for the collection of new evidence or, if the proofs collected at the investigation stage, are sufficient to prove the blame of the accused. In this case, the punishment limit will be cut by one fourth.
The bill that stipulates the simplified procedures for examining criminal cases was given a first reading in the last sitting of the Parliament’s autumn session. The bill is aimed at diminishing the workload of courts of law and at increasing the case trying speed.