Judgments of lower courts can be appealed. Generally, there are two stages of appeal for criminal proceedings.
You can appeal a court’s decision or judgment if you do not agree with the way that the court has interpreted the facts or the law in your case. In addition, if you think that a lower court’s decision is unfair because some of your rights, as the accused, were violated in the proceedings, you must write that in your appeal. Read more about other ways to complain about a violation of your rights.
There is no automatic right to appeal in all cases and disputes. However, when the national law allows you to appeal a lower court’s decision, the court of appeal has to comply with all the requirements of a fair trial.
Stages of appeal:
The majority of the decisions and judgments of a lower court can be appealed in a higher court: the court of appeal. In the review process, the court of appeal has the same power to consider the case as the lower court. This includes all disputes about the facts of your case and the correct application of law.
Generally, your rights and obligations in the court of appeal are the same as before a lower court, but depending on the nature of your appeal, some of your rights, such as the right to request an oral hearing and the right to be present at the hearing, may be more limited.
Judgements of the court of appeal can be appealed further before the court of cassation: the Supreme Court (Vrhovno sodišče). However, an appeal to the court of cassation is only possible if:
- if a court of appeal has passed a sentence of thirty years imprisonment or has affirmed the judgment of a court of first instance by which such sentence was pronounced
- if the court of appeal after conducting a hearing determined facts of the case differently than the court of the first instance and based its judgement on such facts
- if the court of appeal has as changed the judgment by which the court of first instance acquitted the accused of the charges and pronounced a judgment by which it found him/her guilty.
There are no hearings in the court of cassation.