Summary

A question has arisen in practice whether the rights of the accused at trial are violated if a court judgment is pronounced without his or her presence and whether this can constitute the grounds for setting the judgement aside. This question may arise on the basis of the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as the Constitution as both prescribe that everyone has the right to be tried in his or her presence. The new draft Criminal Code does not regulate the issue either.
First, the author analyses the question whether pronouncement of a court judgment may be treated as the hearing of a criminal matter based on the law in force and theory. Further, the author examines the content and objectives of the guarantee provided by the Constitution and application of the principle in other court proceedings.
The author comes to the conclusion that there is no violation of rights and thus there are no grounds for setting aside a court decision if the court has, in accordance with the law in force, informed the accused at trial of the time and place of pronouncement of the court judgment and the accused at trial does not wish to appear at the court session.