Impact of the conception of appeal on the criminal procedure case law

Straipsnyje analizuojami baudžiamojo proceso teisės klausimai, susiję su baudžiamųjų bylų nagrinėjimu apeliacine tvarka. Tyrimo metu bandoma įvertinti apeliacijos sampratos ir baudžiamųjų bylų nagrinėjimo apeliacinės instancijos teismuose pokyčius 2003 m. gegužės 1 d. įsigaliojus naujajam Baudžiamojo proceso kodeksui. Straipsnyje pabrėžiami šiandien veikiančio apeliacijos modelio trūkumai, nemažai dėmesio skiriama proceso dalyvių instancinio mentaliteto formavimo bei pirmosios instancijos teismų nuvertinimo problemai aptarti, analizuojama apeliacijos modelio įtaka apeliacijos trukmei, pateikiama empirinių tyrimų medžiaga, iliustruojanti šiuos proceso aspektus.The article deals with the impact of the conception of appeal and the model of unlimited appeal existing in Lithuania on the criminal procedure case law. Alterations of the process of hearing criminal cases in the appellate courts stimulated by the new Code of Criminal Procedure which came into effect on 1 May 2003 are analysed in the article. Furthermore, an attempt is made to evaluate several disadvantages of the model of unlimited appeal described in the legal theory and their impact on case law. It is an established fact that the Lithuanian legal regulation and case law are marked by the features of the model of unlimited appeal, which, as sometimes stated, has more disadvantages than advantages in comparison with the model of limited appeal. The authors of the article express a negative attitude towards the unlimited possibilities of the parties to abuse the procedural rights established in the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania, the possibility of the submission of fresh evidence as well as the possibility of the alteration of accusation during the hearing of a criminal appeal as the factors forming instant mentality of the parties and determining the depreciation of the court of the first instance. The Lithuanian legal regulation and case law encourage the parties to lodge an appeal even in the cases when the parties agree with the court decision but expect that while reviewing the case the appellate court will make a new decision or mitigate the punishment. In such a way an attitude of the parties of the criminal procedure towards the process of the court of the first instance as the initial stage of the basic process in the appellate court is formed, therefore, the presently rather low confidence in courts diminishes even more. The investigations into the term of the hearing of a criminal appeal in Lithuania revealed one more disadvantage of the model of unlimited appeal, i.e. the expansion of the term of the appeal process. After the comparison of the new Code of Criminal Procedure in effect from 1 May 2003 and the statistical data of 2002 it was established that when the number of the cases where the investigation of the evidence was performed had increased twice, the average term of the appeal process increased by 40 per cent, and even a rise in the number of the court clerks and judge assistants could not compensate such an increase. Furthermore, a matter of great concern is the duration of the process in the appellate court, as it lasts longer than the process in the court of the first instance