Pursuant to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, when the case is at the judicial stage, the parties (the accused, public, auxiliary, private and subsidiary prosecutor, but not the aggrieved party), defense lawyers, attorneys and statutory representatives of the parties have the right to unlimited access to the case files and to obtain of them, copies and transcripts. This right also includes the possibility of taking photographs of files. This possibility is extremely useful in order to fully and correctly participate in the case – in fact, only by knowing all the documentation contained in the files can you prepare a comprehensive and effective line of defense.
The situation is slightly different in the preparatory proceedings. Apart from the fact that the aggrieved party is a party in the course of proceedings (at this stage he does not yet have the function of an auxiliary prosecutor), Art. 156 § 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure makes access to files conditional upon the consent of the prosecutor. This consent may be refused in a situation where disclosure of the files would jeopardize the proper course of the proceedings or the interest of the state. However, what is crucial, the files constituting the basis for pre-trial detention should be made available in every situation. In addition, after the completion of the collection of evidence, the suspect has the right to participate in the final review of the materials of the proceedings – this is the latest moment in which the files should be made available to him.
