Case of C-404/24, Dimnev, Judgment of 1 August 2025 (Third Chamber)

Directive (EU) 2016/343 – Burden of proof that the accused person is guilty (Article 6) – Right of access to an independent and impartial tribunal (Article 47(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union) – Charge withdrawn in part by the public prosecutor’s office during the hearing – Obligation for the court to rule on the elements of the charge not maintained at the hearing.

Article 6(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/343 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings, and the second paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation pursuant to which a criminal court is required to rule on the indictment on the basis of its own firm conviction, even though the public prosecutor, after submitting evidence at the hearing which, according to that criminal court, makes it possible to convict the accused person of the offences set out in that indictment, requests, as regards some of the acts refered to in that indictment, that that person be acquitted or convicted of a less serious offence.