The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania has finished preparing its amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), which, in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court, would allow for a more clear regulation of defendants' rights and, in addition, would enable the remote interviewing of suspects or defendants through the use of video or audio recording equipment.

"The Constitutional Court has stated that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure are contrary to our Fundamental Law [the Constitution], which is why we had to provide amendments to make the regulation of defendants' rights during trial clear," noted the minister of justice.

Currently, a defendant may not be convicted for a more serious crime or misdemeanor under the Criminal Code, or for any criminal offense with fundamentally different factual circumstances from those specified in the indictment, if he or she hasn't been notified in advance of this being a possibility at the hearing. In this case, the public prosecutor, the private prosecutor or the victim ask the defendant to reclassify the criminal offense in question, and the defendant is given time to prepare his defense.

However, this doesn't apply if the criminal offense specified on the indictment is reclassified as a lesser crime or misdemeanor under the Criminal Code, or if the factual circumstances of the offense remain fundamentally the same.

The Constitutional Court admitted that the current state of affairs, where a defendant is not informed of the amended charges - regardless of the fact that they are being reclassified to a lesser crime or misdemeanor - until the conclusion of the examination of evidence in court, allows for the circumvention of a defendant's right to know the crime he or she is accused of, for not ensuring the availability of sufficient procedural means to defend oneself from the charge, or the ability to take advantage of said means, for limiting the defendant's right to defend themselves and for violating the principle of the rule of law, enshrined in the Constitution.

That is why the draft law amending the CCP proposes to enable the public prosecutor, private prosecutor, or the victim to submit a written application for changing the classification of the offense specified in the indictment by substituting any other provision (for either a greater or lesser offence) before the examination of evidence is concluded in court. This can also be done by the court itself, by informing the parties in the case of the change in factual circumstances of the offense specified in the indictment.

The draft law also proposes to allow the remote interviewing of suspects (during pre-trial investigations) or defendants (during court hearings) with the help of video or audio devices. Up until now, this was only allowed for witnesses and victims. A suspect or defendant could only be interviewed remotely if they were unable to attend the interview (or court hearing) or were held in police custody, in remand or in a correctional facility.

The draft law by the Ministry of Justice has now been submitted for consideration by other interested institutions.