VERIFICATION OF THE EVIDENCE OF THE SUBSTANCE OF A CRIMINAL CASE IN A COURT OF APPEAL

The paper is an attempt to analyse the way in which a court of appeal may verify and use the results of the evidence collected in the court of the first instance. Attention has been drawn to the fact that the way in which the court o f appeal looks at evidence is different to that in the court o f the first instance. The court of appeal may reverse, uphold, or amend the original sentence. That court has the power to increase the sentence, although, in principle, its sentence should not be more severe than the one originally pronounced in the court of the first instance. The court o f appeal is also limited when it comes to verifying the evidence. The predominant approach is to analyse the evidence collected and presented at the court that had originally reached a verdict, and only when necessary, to seek complementary evidence. Sometimes the proceeding of the court of appeal with regards to evidence are less formal than those in the inferior court