Questionnaire Belgium
I.20 What is the main simplified procedure?
The main simplified procedure is the summoning of
the suspect by procés-verbal (sect. 216quater CCP). According to this
procedure, the district prosecutor can summon a person who has been arrested on
the grounds of the sects. 1 and 2 Pre-trial Detention Act to appear before the
police court or the correctional court within a term between ten days and two
months.
Furthermore, the Act of28 March 2000 created the procedure of
so-called immediate appearance (sect. 216quinquies CCP). This immediate
appearance was a special procedure created for those persons who have been
arrested on the ground of sect. 20bis Pre-trial Detention Act or have been
conditionally released according to sect. 36 of that Act. However, in an
important judgment of the Court of Arbitration (i.e. the Constitutional Court ) of 28 March 2002 some vital
provisions of the Act of 28
March 2000 have been declared void. As a result, the procedure of
immediate appearance cannot be used anymore.
Furthermore, the Act of
