“Postponement of Criminal Prosecution” represents the possibility for a public prosecutor ( District Attorney ) to postpone criminal prosecution for criminal offenses for which a fine or a prison sentence of up to five years is prescribed, if the accused agrees to one or more obligations specified by the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act.
The obligations that the public prosecutor may impose on the accused are:
- to eliminate the harmful consequence caused by the commission of the criminal offense or to compensate for the damage caused;
- to pay a specified amount to the account designated for public revenue payments, which is used for humanitarian or other public purposes;
- to perform specific community service or humanitarian work;
- to fulfill overdue maintenance obligations;
- to undergo treatment for alcohol or drug addiction;
- to undergo psychosocial treatment to eliminate the causes of violent behavior; and
- to fulfill an obligation established by a final court decision, or to comply with a restriction imposed by a final court decision.
In practice, the most common obligation imposed on the accused is to pay a specified monetary amount to the public revenue account.
In the order for the postponement of criminal prosecution, the public prosecutor will set a deadline within which the accused must fulfill the obligations undertaken, with the deadline not exceeding one year. If the accused fulfills the obligation within the given deadline and complies with the order issued by the public prosecutor, the public prosecutor will dismiss the criminal report by decision and notify the injured party about it.
This essentially means that the accused who complies with the public prosecutor’s order and fulfills the obligation will not have the status of a convicted person for the criminal offense they were charged with. Although compliance with the order for the postponement of criminal prosecution may be interpreted as an admission of guilt, the accused will not acquire the status of a convicted person because, in this case, the procedure ends with a decision to dismiss the criminal report, rather than with a conviction.