!!!Strafprozess

Criminal Trial, procedure in court during which it is decided whether 
the accused has committed a crime and if so, what the sentence should 
be. Austria applies the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1975 which goes 
back to the year 1873 and is currently under revision. The criminal 
trial is characterised by the opposition between the state´s 
call for punishment, represented by the public prosecutor, on the one 
hand and the presumption of innocence and the regard for fundamental 
rights and freedoms on the other. In Austria criminal procedure knows 
two instances. The district judge decides on offences punishable by up 
to 1 year´s imprisonment; offences punishable by up to 5 years 
are decided on by judges sitting alone at a provincial court 
(Landesgericht). The  Schoeffengericht deals with severe offences; 
cases of political offences and particularly serious offences (those 
punishable by more than 5 years imprisonment as the lower limit and 
more than 10 years as the upper limit) are decided by the  
Geschworenengericht. Decisions of district and provincial court judges 
sitting alone can be appealed against on issues of fact. Such appeals 
lie to the competent Landesgericht (Regional Court) or 
Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court). This is not possible with 
judgments passed by a court of lay assessors (Schoeffengericht) or in 
a jury trial (Geschworenengericht). In such cases the Higher Regional 
Court (Oberlandesgericht) can review the sentence appealed against and 
the Supreme Court of Justice reviews issues of law brought before it 
by a nullity appeal (Nichtigkeitsbeschwerde).

!Literature
C. Bertel, Grundriss des oesterreichischen 
Strafprozessrechts, %%sup 6/%2000; W. Platzgummer, Grundzuege des 
oesterreichischen Strafverfahrens, %%sup 8/%1997.


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