In the overwhelming majority of cases in criminal law, the prosecutor is the prosecutor. This does not change the fact that there are also ways of bringing an indictment by the aggrieved party in a situation where state law enforcement agencies are not interested in it. This could be due to a refusal to initiate an investigation or an investigation due to a failure by law enforcement to find sufficient evidence. Despite their passivity, the aggrieved party, determined to punish the perpetrator, may independently file a complaint to the court. Such an institution is regulated by Art. 55 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and is known as a subsidiary indictment.
Such a trial should not differ in any way from a trial initiated as a result of an indictment brought by a public prosecutor (prosecutor). It should be emphasized that the indictment brought by the aggrieved party should be drawn up and signed by an attorney, legal advisor or counselor at the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Poland.
A prosecutor may join a case initiated in this way at any time, thus becoming a public prosecutor. The proceedings are then conducted on the basis of a public indictment, and the aggrieved party who brought the indictment enjoys the rights of an auxiliary prosecutor. The prosecutor may withdraw the indictment only with the consent of the aggrieved party who brought the indictment.
The provisions on the subsidiary indictment are characterized by the fact that the victim must first exhaust the entire available procedure. First, the prosecutor must refuse to institute proceedings or discontinue them in the form of a decision. Subsequently, this decision should be appealed to the court. When examining the complaint, the court repeals the decision, indicating the reasons and circumstances that require more detailed explanation by the prosecutor. When the court finds no grounds to institute proceedings again, it refuses to initiate or discontinues them.
In connection with the amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure, new regulations entered into force in 2020, which extend the path of the victim to bring a subsidiary indictment. Currently, the aggrieved party may bring an indictment to the court only within one month from the delivery of the notification about the superior prosecutor’s decision to uphold the appealed decision.
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