The criminal process is, to say the least, extremely psychologically taxing, especially for the accused, and is often accompanied by financial burdens. For this reason, the Code of Criminal Procedure grants the accused the right to claim compensation from the State in a number of cases.
Specifically, according to Article 535 of the Greek Code of Criminal Procedure (KPD), the following individuals have the right to claim compensation from the State:
- Those who were held in pre-trial detention and were irrevocably acquitted by a court decision or a judicial ruling (voulefma).
- Those who were detained based on a conviction that was later irrevocably annulled through an appeal.
- Those who were convicted and imprisoned, but later acquitted through the reopening of their case.
- Those among the above categories who were later sentenced to a term shorter than the one they initially served.
- Those whose criminal prosecution was definitively discontinued or deemed inadmissible by a final court decision or ruling, provided that the reasons for such discontinuation or inadmissibility were clearly present at the time of the original conviction or referral order, or the prosecution was considered never to have occurred according to Article 77.
Moreover, paragraph 2 of the same article provides that:
“Those who were held due to conviction or were held in pre-trial detention under paragraph 1 have the right to claim compensation even if they were acquitted because, although they committed the act, no penalty was imposed on them for any reason.” This right may also be exercised by the legal heirs of the entitled individual, in proportion to their respective shares of the inheritance.
Naturally, a necessary precondition for exercising the above right to compensation is that the competent council or criminal court must first recognize, through a formal decision, the State’s relevant obligation, specifying the amount owed. If the beneficiary considers the awarded amount insufficient to fully compensate for the harm suffered, they may file a civil claim to seek additional compensation from the State.
