Slide 3: Criminal Proceeding Termination

• Criminal proceedings end when a cause for termination occurs.
• These causes fall into two categories: general and specific.

General Causes for Termination

• These apply to all crimes.
• This includes the death of the accused or the issuance of a conclusive judgment.
• A conclusive judgement is one that cannot be appealed through ordinary or extraordinary means.

Specific Causes for Termination

• Only apply to certain crimes.
• Criminal reconciliation is one such cause.

Death of the Accused

• Criminal lawsuits are personal.
• They can only be initiated or pursued against the perpetrator of the crime.
• If the accused dies, the criminal case is terminated.

Statute of Limitations

• The statute of limitations terminates criminal lawsuits after a specific period has passed since the crime was committed, and before a conclusive judgment has been issued.
• It applies to all crimes except the following:
  • Crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment
  • Terrorism-related crimes
  • Crimes against internal or external state security
  • Qisas (retributive justice) and blood money (Diyya) crimes
  • Crimes of money laundering, terrorism financing, and funding illegal organizations
  • Crimes of embezzlement, damage to public funds, and bribery
• The statute of limitations varies depending on the severity of the offense:
  • Felonies: 20 years from the date of the crime
  • Misdemeanors: 5 years from the date of the crime
  • Violations (infractions): 1 year from the date of the violation

Statute of Limitations for Criminal Penalties vs. Lawsuits

• The statute of limitations is longer for criminal penalties than for criminal lawsuits.
  • Felonies: Penalties are time-barred after 30 years.
  • Misdemeanors: Penalties are time-barred after 7 years.
  • Infractions: Penalties are time-barred after 2 years.

Exceptions to the Statute of Limitations for Penalties

• Certain penalties are excluded from the statute of limitations and do not expire, including:
  • Penalties for Qisas (retributive justice) and Diyya (blood money)
  • Penalties for felonies with final judgments of death or life imprisonment
  • Terrorism-related crimes
  • Crimes against internal or external state security
  • Crimes of money laundering, terrorism financing, and funding illegal organizations
  • Crimes of embezzlement, damage to public funds, and bribery

Rationale for Supporting Termination Due to Passage of Time

• Stability of legal situations
• Difficulty in collecting and examining evidence
• Encouraging diligence in justice systems

Commencement of the Statute of Limitations Period

• The statute of limitations begins from the moment the crime is committed.
• For result-based crimes, the period starts from the occurrence of the result (e.g., time of death in a murder case.)
• For conduct-based crimes, the period starts from the commission of the criminal act (e.g., endangering others' lives).
• For continuous crimes, the period starts from the end of the continuous state (e.g., illegal possession of an unlicensed weapon).
• For habitual crimes, the period starts from the date of the last act that constitutes the habitual crime (e.g., usury as stated in Article 459 of the Penal Code).

Interruption of the Statute of Limitations Period

• If an action specified by law is taken during the limitation period (arrest, search, interrogation, etc.), the time elapsed prior to that action is not included in the calculation.
• Instead, the limitation period restarts from the date of the action taken.
• If multiple actions are taken, the calculation begins from the date of the most recent action.
• Investigative, accusatory, or trial actions interrupt the statute of limitations, even if they are not directed against the accused.
• Pre-investigation actions do not interrupt the statute of limitations unless they are directed at the accused or officially communicated to them.
• Criminal settlement procedures interrupt the statute of limitations period.
• If the statute of limitations is interrupted for one accused, it is also interrupted for all co-accused individuals.

Impact of the Statute of Limitations on Criminal Lawsuits

• Expiration of the statute of limitations ends society's right to punishment.
• The court must then declare the termination of the criminal case.

Conclusive Judgement

• Conclusive judgment is a natural cause for terminating criminal proceedings.
• It includes both ordinary (objection and appeal) and extraordinary appeals (cassation).
• The possibility of appealing through a motion for reconsideration doesn't prevent a judgment from being conclusive.
• Difference between Final Judgement and Conclusive Judgement: A final judgment has exhausted all ordinary means of appeal (objection and appeal). A conclusive judgment has exhausted all means of appeal (ordinary/extraordinary); it is not subject to appeal, except via a motion for reconsideration.

Legal Basis for Termination by Conclusive Judgment

• Article 268 of the UAE Criminal Procedure Law: "Criminal proceedings are terminated (...) upon the issuance of a conclusive judgment (...) If a judgment has been rendered on the merits (...), the case may not be reconsidered except by appealing."
• Stability and finality of legal positions require ending disputes; a person cannot be tried for the same act more than once.
• If a case is filed against a person already adjudicated by a conclusive judgment, that person can plead non-acceptance on the grounds of prior adjudication.

Specific Causes for Termination

• Settlement (Reconciliation) generally does not affect a criminal lawsuit.

• Settlement is considered a matter of public interest.

• The UAE legislator explicitly provided for settlement as a reason in Article 349 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

• Crimes subject to criminal settlement are stipulated in Article 382 of the Criminal Procedure Law, these include:

  • Failure to pay alimony or fees for custody, breastfeeding, or housing (stipulated in Article 382 of the Penal Code)
  • Intentional assault that does not result in permanent disability or death (stipulated in Article 390 of the Penal Code)
  • Offences of unintentional harm to physical safety (Article 394)
  • Misdemeanors of threatening others (Articles 403 and 404)
  • Offences of insult and defamation (Articles 425, 426, and 427)
  • Offence of violating the sanctity of private life (Article 431)
  • Offences of opening letters, eavesdropping on phone calls, and disclosing them to unauthorized persons without permission (Article 433)
  • Misdemeanor of breach of confidentiality (Paragraph 1 of Article 432)
  • Offence of using a car, motorcycle, or their equivalent without the owner's consent or approval (Article 447)
  • Offence of breach of trust (Article 453)
  • Offence of appropriating lost property (Article 454)
  • Misdemeanor of destroying or damaging property owned by others (Paragraph 1 of Article 464)
  • Offences related to the removal, destruction, or relocation of markers for land surveying, leveling, or boundary demarcation (Article 468)
  • Offense of injuring an animal or livestock (Article 473)
  • Offense of violating the sanctity of others (Article 473)
  • Offense of failure to hand over children to those entitled to request, custody, or care of them (Articles 379 and 380)

• Settlement between the victim and the accused must be documented in an official document authenticated by a notary public, or it may also be established before the Public Prosecution or the court.

• Conditional settlement that is conditional upon a specific requirement is not accepted and null.

Withdrawal of the Complaint

• If the crime requires a complaint to initiate a criminal lawsuit, withdrawal of the complaint by the complainant before a conclusive judgment results in the termination of the lawsuit.
• For example, if a person commits the crime of insult, the victim files a complaint, but later withdraws it, the criminal lawsuit will be terminated.

General Amnesty

• General amnesty is granted for a crime by the legislative authority.
• It removes the criminal nature of a specific act and considers it lawful.
• The legal basis is in Article 21 of the Criminal Procedure Law: "The criminal lawsuit terminates upon the death of the accused, the issuance of a conclusive judgment, a waiver by the party entitled to it, general amnesty, or the repeal of the law punishing the act."
• The Penal Code addresses general amnesty in Article 148.
• Consequences include:
  • If issued before a conviction, the criminal case is terminated.
  • If issued after a conviction, the conviction is considered as if it never occurred.