Part IV
Andrei ZARAFIU, Assistant Professor, Considerations regarding the period of temporary detention of a person charged with a criminal offence
The current constitutional system circumscribes criminal prosecution to one of the situations that may require legally, exceptionally and without discrimination the restriction of exercise of certain rights or liberties.
Criminal prosecution allows for a severe and excessive measure: preventive custody.
This paper attempts to highlight some important aspects of the way in which the requirements of art. 5 para. (3) of the Convention (stating that preventive custody cannot be maintained beyond reasonable limits) have been transposed in Romanian legislation.
We examined the a priori determination of the maximum duration of this constraining measure, both in its common, usual form (detaining the accused in preventive custody), and in its special form characteristic of the main instruments available to international cooperation in criminal matters – provisional arrest with a view to extradition.
We highlighted the role played by the Constitutional Court in the unitary interpretation of the limits within which individual freedom can be affected, in a time of legislative turmoil and before the High Court took its current position on ensuring consistency by ruling in appeals in the interest of the law.
Out of the numerous rulings given on this matter, we focused on those which due to their general and precedent-setting character gave rise to contentful doctrinal debate and laid the groundwork for current legislative changes.
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