Language of document :

Order of the Court (Second Chamber) of 24 September 2019 — (Request for a preliminary ruling from the Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad — Bulgaria) — Criminal proceedings against QR

(Case C-467/19 PPU) 1

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Urgent preliminary ruling procedure — Judicial cooperation in criminal matters — Directive (EU) 2016/343 — Article 7(4) — Strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings — Right to remain silent and right not to incriminate oneself — Agreement between the prosecutor and the offender — Approval of such an agreement by the court — Condition — Consent of the other accused persons — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Not applicable)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad

Criminal proceedings against

QR

interveners: Spetsializirana prokuratura, YM, ZK, HD

Operative part of the order

Article 7(4) of Directive (EU) 2016/343 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings must be interpreted as meaning that it does not govern the issue of whether or not the approval, by a court, of an agreement on the imposition of a negotiated sentence, such as the agreement at issue in the main proceedings, concluded between a person accused, on the basis of his alleged membership of a criminal group, and the prosecutor, may be rendered subject to the condition that the other persons accused, on the basis of their membership of that criminal group, must give their consent to the conclusion of that agreement.

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1 OJ C 280, 19.8.2019.