Questionnaire Hungary
I.6 What influence can the prosecution service apply?
Basically, following the legality principle, the
prosecutor may not channel aside offences or regulate the influx of the
criminal justice system. The police have to notify the prosecutor of all
offences for which an investigation was ordered (ordering the investigation is
a Hungarian legal term and means a formal decision to initiate an investigation)
or, if the report has been rejected (see Q 1-2), the police have to send their
written decision on the rejection to the prosecutor. Upon these notifications
the prosecutor may correct the mistaken decisions of the police but if the
legal conditions of criminal proceedings exist (that is, the suspicion of a
criminal offence and lack of legal hindrances), as a rule, neither the police
nor the prosecutor have the power to avoid commencing or continuing the proceedings.
There are only two exceptional grounds (in addition to the technical reasons mentioned at Q 1-2) for the prosecutor to reject a report (drop a case without investigation). The practical importance of these exceptions is small due to their very rare occurrence:
- in case there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a criminal offence has been committed, the prosecutor or – with the permission of the prosecutor – the investigating authority may reject a report, if the person who may be reasonably suspected of having committed the criminal offence co-operates in the investigation of or proving the case or another criminal offence to such an extent that the interests of national security or law enforcement takes priority over the interest to enforce the claim of the state under criminal law (sect. 175(1) CCP);
- almost the same possibility exists, mutatis mutandi, if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an undercover officer has committed a crime during his/her infiltration. (sect. 175 (2) CCP).
There are only two exceptional grounds (in addition to the technical reasons mentioned at Q 1-2) for the prosecutor to reject a report (drop a case without investigation). The practical importance of these exceptions is small due to their very rare occurrence:
- in case there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a criminal offence has been committed, the prosecutor or – with the permission of the prosecutor – the investigating authority may reject a report, if the person who may be reasonably suspected of having committed the criminal offence co-operates in the investigation of or proving the case or another criminal offence to such an extent that the interests of national security or law enforcement takes priority over the interest to enforce the claim of the state under criminal law (sect. 175(1) CCP);
- almost the same possibility exists, mutatis mutandi, if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an undercover officer has committed a crime during his/her infiltration. (sect. 175 (2) CCP).
