Committal Proceedings

or bringing to trial, an independent stage in Soviet criminal procedure in which the sufficiency of grounds for hearing a case in court is examined. At this stage it is determined whether or not the preliminary investigation has been conducted correctly and completely, evidence is sufficient to bring the accused to trial, the legal assessment of the crime is correct, circumstances exist that make it impossible to hear the case in court, the given court has jurisdiction, and so on. Where there are not sufficient grounds, the case is returned for additional investigation or the proceedings are stopped. As a rule, the committal proceedings are handled by a single judge. In cases of crimes by minors, cases where the death sentence can be applied, and cases where the judge does not agree with the bill of indictment or considers it necessary to change the restraining measure applied to the accused, the proceedings are handled by a special session of the court in which the procurator must participate.