What is a direct quote?

Direct quotation is one way of referral a criminal court.

Direct citation allows you, as a victim of an offense, to go directly to a criminal court.

The trial can take place even without a thorough investigation by the police or gendarmerie.

You must therefore be able to present sufficient evidence against the alleged perpetrator to the criminal court.

This procedure is possible only against an identified person, the suspected offender must be known. A direct referral to a criminal court against an unnamed person (against X) is therefore not possible.

The perpetrator, if convicted by the court, may be sentenced to imprisonment and/or a fine and may be required to compensate you if you seek compensation. damages.

Which offenses are covered by a direct quotation?

Only the contraventions and offenses may be directly quoted.

Direct quoting is particularly suitable for simple cases. For example: offenses of violence, abandonment of family, theft or degradation, in relation to the press.

Who can be directly summoned before a criminal court?

Only the natural persons major and legal persons may be directly summoned before a criminal court.

In order for the alleged perpetrator to be validly summoned before the criminal court, you must cite him. That is to say, to bring to his attention, in a certain way, the facts you criticize him for.

To do this, you must first write a citation request that must follow certain rules.

That request for a summons shall set out all the elements necessary for a summons to be drawn up by a Commissioner of Justice (formerly bailiff).

You must then send the citation request to the criminal hearing department to obtain a hearing date.

For the drafting of the citation request and the procedure before the correctional or police court, you can get help from a lawyer.

Before sending your request for a summons to the Commissioner of Justice, you must obtain the date of the hearing on which you will be able to summon the alleged perpetrator.

This hearing date shall be applied to the competent court.

The court of jurisdiction shall be that of the place where the offense was committed or of the domicile of the person complained of.

Once the court of competent jurisdiction has been identified, you must contact the criminal hearing service which is a service of the public prosecutor.

You can send your request by mail or by email with your draft request for quotation as an attachment. But each floor can have a different practice, it is recommended to inquire by email or phone before.

Once the hearing date has been obtained, you must include in your draft application for a summons the court seised, the place, time and date of the hearing.

You can now refer to the appropriate Commissioner of Justice your request for quotation accompanied by a voucher of coins and all your evidence.

The voucher must contain a list of all the evidence you refer to in your request for a quotation.

This step is essential in order to respect the principle of adversarial procedure and to enable the accused person to be aware of what he has criticized and to defend himself.

You have to go to a commissioner of justice to get your quote.

The competent Commissioner of Justice shall be that of the domicile of the respondent.

If the respondent is a legal person, the appropriate Commissioner of Justice is the Commissioner of the registered office of the legal person.

You have to pay the costs of the Commissioner of Justice. You will be able to claim reimbursement in court if the accused person is convicted.

If the defendant is not correctly quoted, you will need to have the quote handed to him again.

Search for the defendant and deliver the quote

Request for quotation shall be handed over to the alleged offender by a commissioner of justice.

The Commissioner of Justice must execute your request for a summons without delay and make every effort to issue the summons to the person of its addressee.

The Commissioner of Justice must state on the original of his summons, and in the form of minutes, the company steps taken to deliver the summons and the answers given to his various requests.

The summons may be issued to the accused in all places, including at the workplace.

In any case, the commissioner of justice must ascertain the identity of the person to whom he or she is giving the summons.

These rules apply to natural and legal persons. The domicile of legal persons shall be their registered office.

Timeliness of citations prior to hearing

The summons must be delivered within a certain period of time before the hearing. This period varies according to the domicile of the accused person and the place of trial.

Once the summons has been issued to the accused, the Commissioner of Justice will give you an original of the summons.

This act, called “feat”, relates the research and the steps that the Commissioner of Justice has taken to submit your request for a citation.

This citation exploit must be delivered, without delay, to criminal hearing service, which is called the criminal hearing registry. This service will record your direct quote and build the criminal record.

It may be useful to keep a copy of the bailiff’s exploit before it is handed over to the Registry.

Depending on your situation, there are several possibilities.

Completing the criminal file

If the prosecution is based on a procedure filed without further action at the public prosecutor’s office, you can request a copy of this procedure to be attached to the criminal file.

You must do so early enough to request the issuance of this copy. Delays in issuing a copy vary from one court to another and can sometimes be lengthy.

This copy of the proceedings must be accessible to the accused and/or his lawyer in order to respect the principle of adversarial proceedings.

If you obtain a copy of the procedure prior to issuing the citation, you must attach it to your citation request and indicate it in your voucher.

If you obtain a copy of the proceedings after the summons has been issued, you must send a copy of the closed proceedings to the Criminal Hearing Registry.

The copy of the proceedings will be stored in the criminal file, which will be accessible to the accused or his lawyer, if they so request.

To make a request for an act

As a party to the trial, you may request, prior to the hearing or at any time during the proceedings, any action you consider necessary to establish the truth. The requested act may be, for example, an expert's report, a witness hearing, the production of documents.

This request for an act must take the form of conclusions written and may be sent before the start of the hearing. In this case, it is compulsory to send them by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or to hand them over to the court registry against receipt.

Preparing for a deposit

Since you are the one who prosecutes, the case is only heard if a first hearing is held on the consignment, i.e. the payment of a sum of money.

This amount of money guarantees the eventual payment of a civil fine.

If you do not have legal aid in total, this deposit is set according to your resources by the court. It is therefore very important to send your proof of income by mail, post or deposit to the Registry a few days before the hearing or at the latest on the day of the hearing.

If you are a for-profit corporation, you must file your balance sheet and income statement with the court to allow the court to determine the amount of the deposit. In the absence of these documents, your direct quotation will not be admissible.

At the first hearing, the court may ask you to pay a deposit. It tells you the amount and the deadline by which you must deposit the deposit at the registry. You must meet the deadlines very precisely, otherwise your direct quotation will not be admissible.

Your file is then sent back to another hearing pending payment of the deposit.

Once you have paid the deposit on time, you get the quality of civil party in the procedure.

The rest of the trial is a classic criminal trial before the police court for a ticket or the criminal court for an offense.

Lawyer's fees

If you decide to seek legal assistance, it is up to you to settle your fees.

If you are under-resourced, you can benefit from legal aid to cover all or part of the costs of legal representation.

Expenses of the Commissioner of Justice

It is up to you to pay the costs of the Commissioner of Justice to issue the direct quotation.

For the issue of this citation, the Commissioners of Justice are allocated a lump sum, which may be added to their application fees and any travel expenses.

If you have obtained legal aid to pay the costs of the Commissioner of Justice, they will be borne by the State.

If you win the trial, you can ask to be reimbursed for the costs of the Commissioner of Justice by the convicted person. In this case, it is necessary to indicate, with your claim for damages, the sums you wish to be reimbursed for the expenses of the Commissioner of Justice.

Consignment costs and civil fine

Before the correctional or police court, the judge may ask you to pay a deposit, unless you are receiving legal aid.

This deposit is used to secure payment of the civil fine which may be pronounced in the case of direct quotations abusive or dilatory.

Damages claimed by the person complained against

If you or your lawyer are absent from the hearing, the court will issue a judgment declaring your alleged withdrawal. The accused may then request damages.

If the accused is granted relaxation, he can ask the court to order you to pay damages.