The aim, tasks and principles of criminal law

The main sources of criminal law are the Constitution and the Criminal Code (adopted on 22 September 1994, in force from 1 April 1995 and amended many times since). The Code’s tasks are to protect the individual, rights and freedoms, the interests of society and state, property, the environment, peace and security from criminal attacks, to prevent crime and to educate citizens in the spirit of obeying the law. Its most basic principle is legality: only the Code decides which act is a crime and what punishment follows, and nobody is declared guilty of a crime without a court verdict. Citizens are equal before the law, and punishment must be humane, that is, not aimed at physical suffering or humiliating dignity, and must fit the gravity of the crime (justice). A person answers only for a socially dangerous act whose guilt is proved, and every person whose act contains the elements of a crime is held liable (inevitability). Under the presumption of innocence a person is considered innocent until a verdict enters into legal force and need not prove innocence; since 2008 the death penalty has been abolished.