DOI: http://doi.org/10.47743/jss-2022-68-1-22

Abstract: The principle of legality is stipulated by article 2 of the Criminal Procedure Code and it is designed to guarantee the primacy of the law in criminal procedure, so that the criminal proceedings are carried out according to the legal provisions. In the present article the author tries to clarify some controversial issues regarding the consequences of the infringement of article 311 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The article mentioned above regulates the procedure of widening the scope of criminal investigation or changing the charges. Hence, in the situation where, after the criminal investigation started, the criminal investigation body finds new facts, new data concerning the involvement of other individuals or circumstances that can lead to changing the charges for the offense, that body shall order the widening of the criminal investigation scope or the changing of the charges. This study analyzes the situation where the criminal investigation in rem had begun only for a singular act from the structure of the unit continued crime, followed by the discovery of a new act which is part of the structure of the same continued crime. Changing the charges without starting an investigation in rem for this - new discovered - act is an infringement of article 311 and therefore a violation of the principle of legality. Regarding the nature of the sanction that is to be imposed in such situations, several views have emerged in case law. The author points out that the only sanction applicable in these case is the relative nullity of the ordinance and the irregularity of the indictment. 

Keywords: criminal procedure, lawfulness of the criminal proceedings, changing of the charges, nullity, the indictment irregularity

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