Articles in Criminal Codes regulating application of more favourable law, unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) on Thursday declared unconstitutional two articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Criminal Code, that regulate the application of a more favorable criminal law after a final conviction or an educational measure, according to a press release issued by the CCR for AGERPRES. 

The Constitutional Court debated the objection of unconstitutionality of the provisions of article 595 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code and article 4 of the Criminal Code. 

Article 595 paragraph (1) of the Penal Procedure Code stipulates: "(1) When after the final ruling of conviction or an educational measure decision intervenes a law which no longer considers an offense the deed for which the conviction was pronounced or a law providing for a less severe punishment or measure than that which is being carried out or is to be carried out, the court shall take measures to put in place the provisions of articles 4 and 6 of the Criminal Code, as the case may be." 

Article 4 of the Criminal Code reads: "The penal law does not apply to the deeds committed under the old law, unless they are already provided for by the new law. In this case, the carrying out of punishments, educational measures and safety measures, pronounced on the basis of the old law, as well as all the criminal consequences of court rulings regarding these deeds, ceases with the entry into force of the new law." 

The CCR, by a majority vote, decided that the two articles are unconstitutional. 

The CCR decision is final and generally binding.