Principle of equality of arms is part of fair trial concept, which encompasses several guarantees linked to the defence opportunities during the criminal procedure. The accused person is entitled to a fair trial. Balance of rights between the parties is bedrock for procedural fairness and the judge has to perform his competence in providing all necessary preconditions as for the trial to be fair. There are differences between interpretation and implementation of equality of arms in the jurisprudence of European court on human rights (ECtHR) and international criminal courts (ICTY, ICTR and ICC). Decisions of ECtHR are much more similar with domestic understanding of equality of arms as reasonable opportunity of the defence to present the case without disadvantages vis-à-vis the prosecutor, due to inherent inequity between the parties. When analyzing proceeding before the ad hoc Tribunals, there is “more liberal interpretation” of this principle, which allowed the Prosecutor to invoke equality of arms, as well. ICTY Trial Chamber in Aleksovski case concluded that application of the concept of a fair trial in favor of both parties is understandable because the Prosecution acts on behalf of and in the interests of the international community, including the interests of the victims of the offence charged and also has held that it is difficult to see how a trial could ever be considered to be fair where the accused is favored at the expense of the Prosecution. This interpretation has been justified with dependence of the international Tribunals on state cooperation and due to the fact that international criminal courts have no autonomous enforcement agencies at their disposal. Fortunately, ICC Statute considered equality of arms as solely afforded to the defence, or to the Prosecutor on the behalf of accused.
This study expresses the criticism of recently enacted Law in determining the type and in measuring the severity of sentence. There is flagrant restriction of the free judicial belief due to the necessity in overcoming identified inconsistency in sentencing policy. The judicial system is not resistant to both internal and external pressures and influences. However, those problems cannot be overcome by massive fragmentation of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia, wide ranges of the sanctions, and by administrative proceedings in the determination of the sanction. New Macedonian law has created mandatory guidelines for every criminal offence by emphasizing previous conviction as the most important circumstances. This is contrary to several Council of Europe recommendations. The authors emphasize that the binding character of the sentencing guidelines should be avoided. According to them, only free judicial belief within the statutory penal framework can ensure the rule of the law and equity.
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