| Abstract [eng] |
The master's thesis discusses the concept, origin and significance of the institute of release from criminal liability of a whistleblower, which is still relatively new in Lithuania and is enshrined in Article 39-2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as the peculiarities of its application. First, in order to understand the origins and importance of the establishment of this institute in the Criminal Code, the concept and significance of the whistleblower’s institute is analysed, together with the establishment of the regulation of protection and promotion of whistleblowers in the Lithuanian legal system. Among other things, the paper reviews the concept of release from criminal liability and its place in the Lithuanian criminal law system. Reviewing the sources of the whistleblower's release from criminal liability institute, analysing the possible inspirations from international law that, in the author's opinion, influenced emergence of this institute, and the legal regulation of other countries, the uniqueness of the institute established in Lithuania is noted. The paper further analyses each of the mandatory conditions set out in Article 39-2 of the Criminal Code for whistleblower's release from criminal liability. Using case law and the scientific literature, the content of each of these conditions and some of the shortcomings and problems of their application are examined. The paper analyses, among other things, the court's discretionary right to choose to release a person from criminal liability or to refuse to release him, even in the presence of all discussed formal grounds for applying the institute. The procedural aspects of the application of this type of release from criminal liability as well as the problems and shortcomings in the legal regulation are also discussed. Given that the whistleblower's release from criminal liability is not the same as acquittal, the paper concludes with an analysis of the legal consequences, which, despite the avoidance of punishment, may be applied for a person released from criminal liability on this basis. |
