A victim in criminal proceedings may be a natural person, who has sustained moral, physical or material damage as a result of a criminal offence, as well as a legal person, that has sustained a material damage.
The rights and duties of a victim shall accrue at the time of filing an application that a criminal offence has been committed against him or an application for bring into proceedings as a victim. A victim shall be delivered a leaflet advising on his procedural rights and duties by the person who accepted the application that a criminal offence has been committed.
A victim shall also be the person, who has not filed the application but who suffered damage as a result of criminal offence and who consequently, after criminal proceedings have been instituted, lodged the application for being involved in criminal proceedings as victim.
A person, who sustained moral damage as a representative of a legal entity or certain part of the society, may not be a victim.
Where there is an obvious and sufficient cause to believe that the application, information on a crime or an application for being involved in criminal proceedings as victim is lodged by a person who has not sustained the damage specified in part one of this Article, investigator or public prosecutor shall adopt a motivated ruling refusing to recognize the person to be a victim, which may be appealed to the investigating judge.
If a criminal offence caused death of a person, or if this person’s condition prevents the person from filing an appropriate application, provisions of parts one to three of the present Article shall apply to close relatives or family members of such deceased person. One person from among close relatives or family members who has filed an application to be engaged in proceedings as a victim shall be recognized to be a victim, and upon a relevant application several persons may be recognized to be victims. When the person, whose condition prevented him or her from filing an appropriate application, recovers to be able to exercise the
procedural rights, he/she may file an application requesting to be engaged in the proceedings as a victim.
If a person did not file an application that a criminal offence has been committed against him or an application for bringing into proceedings as a victim, the investigator, public prosecutor and court may recognize such person a victim subject to his written consent. Absent such consent, a person may in case of need be brought into proceedings as a witness. Provisions of this part shall not extend to proceedings that may be commenced only on grounds of a victim’s application (criminal proceedings in the form of private accusation).
