High Court of Review and Justice
PRESS RELEASE
In its session of 28 June 2021, the High Court of Review and Justice – Panel for the Clarification of Certain Points of Law in Criminal Matters, lawfully established in the Case, considered a request for a preliminary ruling for the clarification of certain points of law, and returned the following Judgment:
Decision #52 in Case #1236/1/2021
Sustains the request brought by the Court of Appeals Oradea – Chamber for Criminal and Juvenile Matters, for a preliminary ruling and returns this Judgment:
In the interpretation and application of Art. 377 in the Criminal Code, correlated with Art. 177 para. (2) in the Criminal Code, in order to establish the subjects of the crime of incest, can establishing the capacity as biological relatives in a direct line or between brothers and sisters, in the situation where the subject of the crime is an adopted person, take place in the conditions of Art. 52 para. (1) and (2) in the Criminal Procedure Code independently from the stipulations of Art. 440 and Art. 470 para. (2) in the Civil Code.
To establish the subjects of the crime of incest as stipulated at Art. 377 in the Criminal Code, in the situation where one of them is adopted, it is not required to firstly establish the existence of a civil legal kinship in a direct line or between brothers and sisters as under Art. 409 in the Civil Code correlated with Art. 416 in the Civil Code or Art. 424 in the Civil Code, as the case may be; this aspect can be established in the absence of civil status documents and a civil action with that object, as part of the ongoing criminal trial and based on the evidence required under Art. 97 para. (1) in the Criminal Procedure Code correlated with Art. 52 para. (1) and (2) in the Criminal Procedure Code.
The effects of biological kinship established in a civil trial or even in the criminal trial that follows after the commission of a crime of incest will become retroactive all the way till the moment the child was born.
Obligatory as of the date of publication in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I under Art 477 para. (3) in the Criminal Procedure Code.
Returned in public session today, the 28th of June 2021.
After the justification is written and the Judgment signed it shall be published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I.
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