| Abstract [eng] |
Human rights protection standards in criminal proceedings by reason of the type of the process and the nature of responsibility are very important. The need to ensure the rights of participants in criminal proceedings is universally recognized. It affects the consolidation of various guarantees in international law and national laws as well. One of such procedural guarantees enshrined not only in Lithuania‘s but also in foreign criminal procedure codes is an Institute of the challenge. Although this subject is almost not analyzed in the science of law of Lithuania, and even if analyzed, it is mainly done in the context of the principles of impartiality and independence of the judiciary (courts). However, this does not diminish it‘s importance. Implementation of the principle of impartiality is not possible without ensuring independence. Independence results impartiality. All these requirements apply not only for judges, but for all entities of criminal procedure who are required to be impartial, not only in trial stage, but throughout the investigation and all criminal case proceedings. In this work the challenged is analysed as an Institute and as the right of the parties of criminal process and the obligation of responsible authorities as well, disclosing the purpose, goals and conditions on which the implementation of the challenge is possible. Detailed analysis of who and to what extent could constitute challenged, and when the subjects must disqualify themselves also is revealed. The analysis of both, the European Court of Human Rights and national case law, seeks to answer the questions of whether the rights are always executed reasonably,whether the participants always objectively evaluate the facts infringing their right to a fair process, whether they are intentionally abusing this right in purpose to reach goals which conflict the law. Because of the fact that the challenge and resignation must always be explained and justified in each case, it is always required to refer the ground for the challenge. Therefore in this work the challenge (self-disqualification) grounds are analyzed in detail, in purpose to show the classification of them, their content, importance and applications. This work also include practical problems resulting not only in the application of the grounds which are already well-defined by law, but also uncertainties caused by the establishment of an open list of grounds and the possibility to motivate challenge on "other factors". So the main goal is to reveal the criteria which must be evaluated in accordance to answer the question - whether the right to a fair process is affected. It also analyzes the procedural form and problems of realization of challenges. A comparative perspective in relation to civil process seeks to evaluate the regulation of criminal procedure code. |
