THE POSSIBILITY OF LIMITING THE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT TO APPEAL IN CRIMINAL MATTERS ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

The right to a legal remedy in criminal proceedings, which enables the refutation of the legal and factual basis of a court decision, is a guarantor of a legal and correct court decision, i.e. the pillar of a legal and fair procedure without which modern criminal procedural systems could not be imagined. Guaranteeing and exercising this right contributes to the protection of individual and general interests, as well as the realization of fundamental principles of criminal procedure, such as legality, fairness, truth and legal certainty. Despite the exceptional and unequivocal importance of legal remedies, i.e. appeals in criminal proceedings, in one of the most important international legal instruments in the field of protection of human rights – the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms, it was proclaimed in such a way that gives the possibility of its limitation. Pointing out the exceptional importance of this legal remedy, the author analyzed the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms, which proclaimed the right to appeal in criminal proceedings, as well as the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, with the aim of pointing out the shortcomings of the provisions of the Convention that the signatory states provides the possibility of limiting the review of certain court decisions in criminal proceedings.