A Comparative Analysis of Pre-Trial Procedure in Europe: The Search for an Ideal Model

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DOI :10.26650/B/SS26.2020.014.04   IUP :10.26650/B/SS26.2020.014.04    Full Text (PDF)

Pre-trial Procedure in Estonia

Anneli Soo, Robert Aavık

The aim of this chapter is to cover the main rights of suspects in pre-trial criminal proceedings in Estonia, and Estonian procedural rules from initiation of criminal proceedings to detention and/or custody of a person to the decision to file charges, which marks the beginning of the court proceedings, and to the use of evidence gathered in pre-trial proceedings in court. While reading this chapter, one has to keep in mind that Estonian criminal procedure is mixture of inquisitorial and adversarial elements with trials being adversarial since the reform that came into force in 2004. However, the concept of pre-trial proceedings as proceedings in which State officials act with the aim to find the truth has remained untouched. Therefore, both suspects and their counsel who should in later stages of the proceedings contest the accusation made by the State in effective and adversarial manner, and the victim who has a choice to stand next to the prosecutor almost as a co-accuser, have to stay more or less passive in the pre-trial stages of proceedings unless they are called for any evidence gathering act. Interestingly, suspects have a right to counsel from the very beginning of criminal proceedings, a right that was indisputable in Estonia even before the European Court of Human Rights’ case of Salduz v. Turkey hit the waves in Europe. The main problem is that suspects, with or without their counsel, do not have general right to access to case materials in pre-trial proceedings, not for preparing their interrogation and not even for contesting the court’s decision on taking them into custody. The access to case materials is in most cases provided only after the Prosecutor’s Office comes to the conclusion that the pretrial proceeding activities have been completed. Suspects and counsel do have a right to request access to case file before this final time point, but it is up for the Prosecutor’s Office to grant the access based on specific circumstances of the case. These and other problems of Estonian criminal proceedings are discussed in detail in this chapter


Keywords: Estonian criminal procedure, initiation of criminal proceedings, rights of suspects, the right of access to a lawyer, the right to access the case file, detention and custody, decision to file charges, use of evidence

References

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