Title III: Investigating courts

If the judge considers that the facts constitute a contravention, he or she will, by order, refer the case to the police court. Once it has become final, this order will cover any procedural defects.

If the judge considers that the facts constitute an offence, he or she shall, by order, refer the case to the criminal court. This order shall specify, if applicable, that the accused benefits from the provisions of Article 132-78 of the Criminal Code. The settlement order puts an end to pre-trial detention, house arrest with electronic surveillance or judicial supervision. If it has been issued, the arrest warrant retains its…

Any order committing the person under investigation to appear before the police court or the criminal court shall inform him that he must notify the public prosecutor of any change in the address declared at the time of his committal for investigation, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, until the final judgment in the case. The order also informs him/her that any summons, notification or service made to the…

The investigating judge may specify in the committal order the date of the hearing before the police court or the criminal court when this date has been previously communicated to him by the public prosecutor. This order must then include the information provided for in the second to last paragraphs of article 390. This order then exempts the prosecutor from issuing a summons pursuant to the same Article 390.

In cases of referral, either to the police court or the criminal court, the investigating judge forwards the case file with his order to the public prosecutor. The latter is required to send it without delay to the clerk’s office of the court which must rule. If the criminal court is seised, the public prosecutor must issue a summons to the accused for one of the next hearings, observing the…

If the examining magistrate considers that the facts constitute a misdemeanour, and that the person under investigation acknowledges the facts and accepts the criminal classification chosen, he may, at the request or with the agreement of the public prosecutor or the person under investigation, issue an order referring the case to the public prosecutor for the purposes of an appearance on prior recognition of guilt in accordance with Section 8…

When the investigating judge is seised of qualified acts constituting one of the offences mentioned in I of Article 41-1-2, it may, at the request or with the agreement of the Public Prosecutor, issue an order transferring the proceedings to the Public Prosecutor for the purposes of implementing the procedure provided for in the same article 41-1-2. The request or agreement of the Public Prosecutor with a view to the…

The provisions of Article 180-2 are applicable to the offences mentioned in Article 41-1-3 for the purposes of implementing the procedure provided for in the same Article 41-1-3.

If the examining magistrate considers that the acts charged against the persons under investigation constitute an offence classified as a crime by law, he shall order their indictment before the assize court, subject to article 181-1. He may also refer related offences to that court. The committal order shall contain, on pain of nullity, the statement and legal classification of the facts, which are the subject of the charge, and…

If, at the end of the investigation, there are sufficient charges against the person of having committed, other than a repeat offence, a crime punishable by fifteen years or twenty years of criminal imprisonment, he or she shall be indicted by the investigating judge, in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 181, before the departmental criminal court, unless there are one or more co-accused who do not meet…