Changes in the Concept of Family Member and Article 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

The article examines the amendments to Articles 38 and 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereafter – CCP) of the Republic of Lithuania adopted on 21 May 2020. With these amendments, the Seimas revised Article 38 of the CCP and the concept of a family member provided therein. The amendment extended the scope of family member definition to also include dependents of the person and changed the regulation of the right of a person not to testify or refuse to answer certain questions against his or her close relatives and family members. The article reveals that the amendments to Article 38 of the CCP, which expanded the circle of persons considered as family members, contributed to the harmonization of Lithuanian criminal procedure law with the concept of family developed in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. The article examines the impact of the amendments to Article 38 of the CCP of 2020 on the application of the interview institute and the implementation of the right to a fair trial. The article deals with Article 82 of the CCP. An analysis of the wording of the amendment reveals that, following the amendment, the nature of the information provided during the interview, rather than the fact of being a family member, became an essential factor in enabling the person to exercise his or her right not to testify against his or her family members or to answer certain questions