Issuing a Guilty Verdict With the Imposition of a Penalty and Certain Legal Aspects of Exemption From Its Execution

The criminal procedural legislation exhaustively defines the legal grounds under which a court can issue a guilty verdict, impose a penalty, and later grant release from serving the sentence. Specifically, within the system of general courts, issuing a guilty verdict, with imposing a penalty and exemption from its execution can occur, for instance, if the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution has expired, or if the person voluntarily renounced the crime or made an active repentance. This position of the legislator raises several questions from both the practical and doctrinal perspectives. The present article provides a legal analysis of whether it is lawful for the court to issue a guilty verdict against a person who voluntarily renounced the crime, made an active repentance for the committed crime, or if the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in the case has expired. Accordingly, the article examines the normative content of Article 269, paragraph 5 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia that provides for the provision in question. The issue is studied from both the procedural-legal and substantive-legal perspective; and the respective analysis is presented through the prism of the national and international court judgments.