Article 35: Withdrawing a criminal charge

Décisions de la Cour suprême interprétant cette section

1. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 2620/2567 (2024)

   Withdrawing a charge in a non-compoundable (state) offence is the plaintiff's lawful right before the first-instance judgment under the first paragraph of Section 35; the law does not forbid withdrawing such a charge once filed.

   The defendant issued a cheque so that the co-plaintiff would withdraw a false-charge prosecution, a state offence. The court held that whether to withdraw was the co-plaintiff's lawful right, exercisable before the first-instance judgment under Section 35 paragraph one, so the underlying cheque debt was not contrary to public order and was not void.

2. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 3066/2565 (2022)

   Withdrawing a request to join as co-plaintiff has the same effect as withdrawing the charge under Section 35, so it can only be done before the court of first instance renders judgment.

   In a non-compoundable case, withdrawing the complaint did not extinguish the right to prosecute, and the co-plaintiff's request to withdraw the joinder was treated as equivalent to withdrawing the charge under Section 35. Because the Supreme Court had already prepared its judgment, it was too late, and the request to withdraw was refused.

3. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 4126/2563 (2020)

   A settlement of a compoundable offence under Section 35 paragraph two and Section 39(2) must be made after the offence has occurred; a settlement made in advance of the offence is not a valid settlement.

   Although the offences of defrauding creditors and misappropriation are compoundable, the court held that a settlement under Section 35 paragraph two and Section 39(2) must be made after the offence occurred, not agreed in advance. A prior civil compromise agreement therefore did not settle the later criminal offences.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.