The description of a criminal act is an essential component of every criminal procedure. Without it, the procedure is impossible. It is the fundamental right of every individual to be acquainted with all of the aspects of the criminal act one is accused of, the possibility to speak out on the allegations, to state the facts and proofs, which are to one’s benefit, and to determine the factual state of the matter. To describe the act means to determine its signs and to execute the principle of legality as consistently as possible. It represents the foundation of equality of arms between the clients involved in the procedure. If there is a change in the indictment during the main hearing, the change must refer to only the act that is the subject of the hearing. This must be done due to the protection of equality. The prosecutor is allowed to interfere with the description of the criminal act only in the boundaries of the same act that is already described in the indictment. The criminal act must be individualized and concretized. There must be a divided line between the dealt act and any other historical events. Here lies the nature of the relationship between the accusation and the verdict. To what extent must the verdict follow the description of the act, which is listed in the accusatory act? The verdict must answer the questions in the indictment. There must be a strong identity between them, meaning and agreement amongst the accused and the act that is the subject of the procedure. The identity between the accusation and the verdict, however, does not necessarily mean an absolute binding of the court to the description of the criminal act, given by the prosecutor.
The aim of the description is mainly to prevent any types of abuse of procedural rights and that the accused is allowed to prepare an effective defence.
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