Page 9 - If-you-are-suspected-of-a-criminal-offence

If you are suspected of a criminal offence

countries. If you breach the stated conditions, you can be returned to custody.
You can apply for cancellation or suspension of the pre-trial arrest. Your lawyer
can advise you about the necessary procedure. The decision is made by the court.

Appeal

You can appeal against a remand order (or an extension to a remand order) to
the gerechtshof or Court of Appeal. You can also appeal against a lower court’s
decision to refuse termination or suspension of pre-trial arrest, in which case
you must lodge your appeal within three days of the court’s decision. Note that
only one appeal is allowed: if you appeal unsuccessfully against the first remand
order, you cannot appeal against a subsequent extension. Similarly, if you appeal
unsuccessfully against the first extension, you cannot appeal against the second
extension. Your lawyer will be able to tell you more about the relevant procedures.

Preliminary hearing

Sometimes, the Officer of Justice will ask for a preliminary hearing
(the ‘committal’ hearing) to be held before he requests a remand order to be
issued. He can also do so at the same time as requesting the remand order.
The investigation is then to be continued under the supervision and authority
of the examining judge. During the preliminary hearing, the examining judge
can hear witness testimony. He may decide to give the Officer of Justice or
the police additional powers in the interests of the investigation, such as
authorizing them to open post, intercept telephone calls or search private
premises. The examining judge is entitled to delve deeper into your personal
circumstances than the police. He can, for example, ask the Probation Service
to produce a report about you. He can also ask for a psychiatric report, in
which case you can be admitted to a psychiatric unit for tests and observation.
You can request the examining judge to hear witnesses who are able to confirm
your side of the story. Even if the prosecution does not request a preliminary
hearing, your lawyer can do so in the interests of your defence. Once the
examining judge considers his investigation to be complete, he forwards all
relevant documents to the Officer of Justice who must now decide whether to
proceed to a full prosecution and trial.

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