Codigo Procesal Penal - rights during a criminal process (Ley N.º 7594)

The Codigo Procesal Penal (Ley N.º 7594, of 10 April 1996) regulates HOW a crime is investigated and tried in Costa Rica — unlike the Codigo Penal, which states WHAT is a crime, this code sets out the procedure that must be followed and the rights of the accused person (defendant) during that process.

Presumption of innocence: the accused person must be considered innocent in all stages of the process, as long as their guilt has not been declared in a final judgment. In case of doubt about the facts, the most favorable interpretation for the accused person (the "in dubio pro reo" principle).

Right to defense: from the first moment of the criminal prosecution and up to the end of the execution of the sentence, the accused person has the right to legal assistance and technical defense. They may choose a lawyer of their trust; if they do not, a court-appointed public defender is assigned.

Rights during the process:

Intervene in the procedural acts that incorporate evidence, and formulate the requests and observations they consider pertinent.
Declare when they consider it essential for their defense, provided that their testimony is pertinent and does not constitute a dilatory maneuver — that is, also they have the right to NOT testify, without that being used against them.

General stages of the process: there are investigation phases (under the Ministerio Publico with support from the OIJ), an intermediate phase, the trial properly speaking, and the stage of sentence execution if there is a conviction — the specific detail of each stage depends on the type of crime and the case.

Relation to other entries in this database: see "How to file a criminal complaint (OIJ / Ministerio Publico)" for the initial step of a complaint, and the Codigo Penal entry for the framework of what constitutes a crime.

Note: it was not possible to detail each procedural stage with precision — for a real case, this requires advice from a legal professional or the Defensa Publica del Poder Judicial.