Publication details
Trestání právnických osob - porušování principu ne bis in idem?
| Title in English | Sancioning of Legal Entities - Violation of the ne bis in idem Principle? |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Trestněprávní revue |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | Ne bis in idem principle; criminal liability of legal entities. |
| Description | The criminal law principle (or also the principle) ne bis in idem or not twice in the same matter does not need to be introduced at length, as it is one of the cornerstones of domestic criminal law, which is reflected in both substantive criminal law and its procedural part. Although it is enshrined in Section 39(5) of Act No. 40/2009 Coll., the Criminal Code, as amended (hereinafter also referred to as the “CPC”) or in Section 11a of Act No. 141/1961 Coll., the Criminal Procedure Code, as amended (hereinafter also referred to as the “CPC”), its basis lies in Article 40(5) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which states: “No one may be prosecuted for an act for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted.” This constitutionally guaranteed principle is observed in the Czech legal order and, in the case of isolated excesses by state bodies, is undoubtedly strictly enforced by courts or public prosecutors. Even in the case of legal entities, whose criminal liability is regulated in Act No. 418/2011 Coll., on the criminal liability of legal entities and proceedings against them (hereinafter also referred to as "TOPO"), whose punishment in relation to the ne bis in idem principle will be discussed in this article, at first glance it seems that everything is in order, since the same standards are applied to these entities in relation to the mentioned principle as in the case of natural persons. After all, even legal entities are granted certain human rights, despite their nature as a legal construct, and therefore it might seem that there is no danger of any problem here, except for the aforementioned excesses, which natural persons can also suffer from. But is this really the case? We are not missing the so-called between your fingers a certain unconstitutional phenomenon that is only very well hidden in the legal regulation? |