CHAPTER THREE
ENFORCEMENT OF DECISION IN RELATION TO OTHER COUNTRIES

Division One
Recognition and enforcement of foreign decisions

Section 515
Foreign decision

(1) A decision of a court of a foreign State in a criminal matter (hereinafter referred to as a „foreign decision“) has legal effects on the territory of the Slovak Republic only if there is a provision in an international treaty or in a law to that effect. The foreign decision imposing a sentence may be enforced on the territory of the Slovak republic only if it was recognised by the Slovak court.

(2) A foreign decision may be recognised in a sentence by which

a) the guilt was established, but the imposition of a sanction was suspended,
b) a prison sentence or a suspended sentence were imposed,
c) a fine or a disqualification were imposed,
d) a suspended sentence or a fine were transformed into a prison sentence, or
e) the confiscation of property or of its part or the forfeiture or confiscation of a thing were imposed if they are on the territory of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as “a foreign property decision”).

(3) A foreign decision changing an already recognised foreign decision in the establishment of guilt, has effects on the territory of the Slovak Republic without the need for any further recognition.

Section 516
Conditions for recognition

(1) A foreign decision shall be recognised in the Slovak Republic if :

a) an international treaty includes a possibility or an obligation to recognise or enforce an foreign decision,
b) it is final in the State of conviction or if there is no possibility to lodge an ordinary remedy against it,
c) the act for which the penalty was imposed, is a criminal offence under both legal systems, that of the State of conviction and that of Slovak Republic,
d) the decision was made in proceedings which comply with the principles contained in Article 6 of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
e) the person was not sentenced for a criminal offence which is exclusively of a political or military nature,
f) the enforcement of the sentence is not prescribed under the law of the Slovak Republic,
g) the person had not already been sentenced for the same act by the Slovak court,
h) no decision of another State in respect of the same person for the same act had been recognised in the Slovak Republic, and
i) the recognition is not contrary to the interests protected by section 481.

(2) If the reason for the proceedings on recognition is the procedure under second and third subsection of this chapter, the withdrawal by the convicted person at any stage of the proceedings of the consent with extradition is not an obstacle to recognition of the foreign decision, in cases where such consent is required, or if one of the other conditions of the procedure under second or third chapter lapsed. The section 519 para. 4 shall be used mutatis mutandis for the effects of that recognised decision.

Section 517
Conversion of sanction

(1) A foreign decision shall be recognised by the Slovak court by converting the sanction imposed therein into a sanction which the court would have imposed if it had proceeded on the committed criminal offence itself. The Slovak court must not, however, impose a more severe sanction than the one imposed in the foreign decision, nor may convert it into a different kind of sanction.

(2) If the length and type of the prison sentence imposed in the recognised foreign decision are compatible with the law of the Slovak Republic, the court in its decision on recognition shall decide that the enforcement of the sentence imposed in the foreign decision shall be continued without the conversion referred to in paragraph 1. This procedure shall, however, not be admissible if the court recognised the foreign decision only in respect of some of the several offences for which the foreign decision was imposed.

(3) In its decision on the recognition of a foreign property decision, the Slovak court shall also decide who shall receive the title to the confiscated property, its part or to a thing. If it does not rule otherwise, the title to the property, its part or to a thing shall fall to the Slovak Republic.

Section 518
Procedure for recognition

(1) The motion for recognition of a foreign decision shall be submitted by the Ministry of Justice to the court which shall decide in a closed hearing after obtaining a written statement from the prosecutor.

(2) The Regional Court in whose district the sentenced person has his residence shall have jurisdiction to proceed under paragraph 1. If the sentenced person does not have his residence in the Slovak Republic, the Regional Court in Bratislava shall have jurisdiction. If the subject of the proceeding is a foreign property decision, the Regional Court in whose territory the property or the thing to which the foreign decision relates are located shall have jurisdiction.

(3) The Regional Court shall decide by a judgement which shall subsequently be served on the sentenced person, the prosecutor and the Ministry of Justice.

(4) An appeal against the judgement on recognition of a foreign decision by the sentenced, the prosecutor or the Minister of Justice shall be admissible. The appellate court in a closed hearing shall reject the appeal, if it finds it unsubstantiated. If it does not reject the appeal, it shall revoke the appealed decision and after taking additional evidence, if necessary, it shall itself decide by a judgement, whether the foreign decision shall be recognised or not.

(5) When the judgment on recognition of foreign decision becomes final, the regional court shall immediately return to the ministry of justice the judgment together with the attachments of its proposal, the request of the foreign authority and its attachments, and it shall send to General Prosecution Office all information about the convicted person, which is necessary in order to make an entry into the Criminal Register.

Section 519
Effects of recognised foreign decision

(1) The recognised foreign decision shall have the same legal effects as a judgement of a Slovak court.

(2) If the foreign decision contains sentences in respect of several persons, the recognition shall have effects only in relation to the sentenced person in respect of which the motion for recognition was made.

(3) If the recognised foreign decision relates only to an individual act of a continuous criminal offence committed in the territory of another State, the recognised foreign decision shall not be an obstacle to the criminal prosecution of the sentenced person for other individual acts of the continuous criminal offence which were committed in the territory of the Slovak Republic.

(4) If the convicted person revoked his consent with extradition for enforcement of the penalty after recognition of the foreign decision, and if such a consent is required for the procedure under the second or the third division of this chapter, or if the transfer did not take place due to other reason, the recognised foreign decision may be enforced on the territory of the Slovak Republic, only if the convicted person did not serve in full the imprisonment sentence in the State of conviction, or in case he was released on probation only if the State of conviction asks for enforcement of the rest of imposed penalty because the convicted person did not prove himself while on probation.

Section 520
Custody

(1) If it is necessary for the purposes of securing the enforcement of a foreign decision, the court having jurisdiction under Article 518 paragraph 2 may, anytime between the submission of the motion for recognition of a foreign decision and the writ of enforcement of the recognised foreign decision, order custody for the person who was sentenced by the foreign decision to a prison sentence and who is in the territory of the Slovak Republic; the court shall not be bound by the grounds for custody specified in Article 71.

(2) An appeal against the decision on custody shall be admissible, but it shall have no postponing effect.

Section 521
Enforcement procedure

(1) A foreign decision may be enforced in the Slovak Republic in cases specified in Article 522 and Article 524 only after the Ministry of Justice has given its consent.

(2) The District Court in whose district the sentenced person has his residence shall have jurisdiction to order the enforcement of the recognised foreign decision. If the sentenced person does not have his residence in the Slovak Republic, the District Court in Bratislava 1 shall have jurisdiction.

(3) The jurisdiction to order the enforcement of a foreign property decision shall vest in the District Court in whose district the property or the thing to which the decision relates are located.

(4) The court specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall have jurisdiction for all subsequent issues of the enforcement proceeding, including the motion for the erasure of the sentence imposed by the recognised foreign decision.

(5) If the sentenced person serves abroad his prison sentence imposed by a foreign decision which has been recognised by the Slovak court, the court shall order the enforcement of the recognised foreign decision before the date of the transfer of the sentenced person to the territory of the Slovak Republic.

(6) Together with the writ of enforcement, or in cases under paragraph 4 following the surrender of the sentenced person to the territory of the Slovak Republic, the court shall rule on the length of the sentence to be served while counting against it the custody under Article 520, the custody and the sentence already served abroad as well as the time spent in transit.

(7) The court shall terminate the enforcement of the recognised foreign decision as soon as the State of origin of the decision informed it about an amnesty, pardon or another measure making the foreign decision non-enforceable any longer. If the amnesty, pardon or another measure has only the consequence of reduction of the sentence imposed, the court shall decide what sentence remains to be served by the sentenced. An appeal against such a decision shall be admissible.

(8) Otherwise the enforcement of the foreign decision shall be governed mutatis mutandis by the provisions of this Code relating to the enforcement proceedings.

Division Two
Transfer of sentenced person to serve prison sentence

Section 522
Transfer of sentenced person from abroad to serve prison sentence

(1) The Ministry of Justice shall have the authority to decide, on the basis of an international treaty, on the transfer of a sentenced person to the territory of the Slovak Republic to serve the prison sentence imposed by a foreign decision, upon a request by the sentencing State or by the sentenced person.

(2) The Ministry of Justice may give its consent to the transfer of the sentenced person or itself request the transfer from the sentencing State only if the foreign decision has been recognised under Subsection One of this Section.

(3) These provisions shall be applied mutatis mutandis also to the transfer of the sentenced person to the enforcement of the prison sentence imposed by a foreign authority in cases where the sentenced is located in the territory of the Slovak Republic.

Section 523
Transfer of sentenced person abroad to serve prison sentence

(1) The Ministry of Justice shall have the authority to take the decision, on the basis of an international treaty, to transfer abroad a person sentenced by a Slovak court to a prison sentence.

(2) Such transfer may be granted upon the motion by the sentenced person, the State of transfer or the court which imposed the sentence in the first instance. If the motion was not made by the competent court, the granting of transfer shall be conditional on the court’s agreement.

(3) When the transfer is allowed, the district court, in the district of which the person serves the imprisonment sentence, shall issue the order to transfer the sentenced person to foreign authorities or the order to transfer the sentenced person abroad.

(4) The transfer of the sentenced person to serve the sentence in another State shall result in the loss of the jurisdiction of the Slovak authorities to continue the enforcement of the sentence, unless the sentenced person shall return to the Slovak Republic without having served the sentence in the State of transfer in full or without being paroled there. If, after the return of the sentenced person, the enforcement shall be continued, the sentence already served abroad shall be counted against the sentence to be enforced.

(5) With the exception of paragraph 3 these provisions shall be applied mutatis mutandis to the transfer of the enforcement of the prison sentence imposed by a Slovak court to another State if the sentenced is already in the territory of that State.

Division Three
Transfer of enforcement of suspended sentence under surveillance

Section 524
Decision on transfer of suspended sentence under probational surveillance from abroad

(1) If an international treaty so provides, the Ministry of Justice may upon a request by a foreign authority decide that the Slovak authorities shall
a) supervise the behaviour of the sentenced person during the suspended sentence imposed by a foreign decision, or
b) decide, in addition to the supervision of the behaviour of the sentenced person, whether the sentenced complied with the conditions of the suspended sentence or whether the suspended sentence or its remainder shall be enforced.

(2) The prerequisite for the decision under paragraph 1 shall be the recognition of a foreign decision under Subsection One of this Section.

Section 525
Procedure by Slovak Authorities

(1) ollowing the decision under Article 524 the behaviour of the sentenced person during the suspended sentence according to the conditions imposed shall be supervised by the District Court in whose district the sentenced person resides by probation and mediation official.

(2) The court shall inform the Ministry of Justice of all circumstances which may influence the decision whether the sentenced person complied with the conditions.

(3) If a decision under Article 524 paragraph 1 lit. a/ was taken, the court, after the term of the suspended sentence has run, shall report to the Ministry of Justice on the behaviour of the sentenced person during the term of the suspended sentence. The court shall neither take a decision whether the sentenced complied with the conditions nor whether the sentence shall be enforced nor shall it order the enforcement of such a sentence.

(4) If a decision under Article 524 paragraph 1 lit. b/ was taken, the court referred to in paragraph 1 shall have jurisdiction to decide whether the sentenced complied with the conditions or whether the suspended sentence shall be enforced. If the court rules that the sentence shall be enforced, it shall also issue a writ of its enforcement. The provisions of Article 521 shall be applied mutatis mutandis.

Section 526
Request for transfer of enforcement of suspended sentence abroad

If an international treaty so provides, the court which imposed a suspended sentence on a person who resides abroad or suspended the prison sentence of such a person may submit to the Ministry of Justice a motion to the effect that the authorities of the State of the sentenced person’s residence should take over :

a) supervise the behaviour of the sentenced person during the term of the suspended sentence, or
b) decide, in addition to the supervision of the behaviour of the sentenced person, whether the sentenced person complied with the conditions or, should he not, to enforce the suspended sentence.

Section 527
Effects of transfer of enforcement of suspended sentence

(1) If the requested State has decided under Article 526 lit. a/ , the Slovak court shall retain its jurisdiction to decide whether the sentenced person has complied with the conditions of the suspended sentence or whether the sentence shall be enforced. In the latter case, the final decision shall be, where appropriate, submitted to the Ministry of Justice for the purpose of its enforcement in the requested State.

(2) If the requested State has decided to take over the enforcement of the suspended sentence should the sentenced person not comply with the conditions the further enforcement of the sentence in the Slovak Republic is no longer admissible if :

a) the foreign authority decided on the enforcement of the suspended sentence and the sentenced person served the sentence in full, or
b) the foreign authority decided that the sentenced complied with the conditions.

(3) Foreign decisions under paragraph 2 shall have the same effects in the Slovak Republic as if they had been issued by the Slovak court.


CHAPTER FOUR
TRANSFER OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Section 528
Transfer of criminal proceedings from abroad

(1) The Prosecutor General’s Office shall have jurisdiction to take the decision on the request by a foreign authority to take over the criminal proceedings it is conducting. The Prosecutor General´s Office shall inform the ministry of justice accordingly.

(2) If the Prosecutor General’s Office accepts the request under paragraph 1 it shall instruct without delay the competent prosecutor’s office to proceed under the provisions of this Code.

(3) Any procedural act carried out by the authorities of the requesting State in accordance with the law of that State, shall have in the Slovak Republic the same validity as if it had been carried out by the Slovak authorities, provided that its admission does not give this act a greater evidentiary weight than it has in the requesting State.

(4) If the requesting State revokes its request for transfer of criminal proceedings by the reason of continuing the criminal proceedings by itself, Slovak authorities shall loose the jurisdiction to continue in the criminal proceedings.

Section 529
Transfer of criminal proceedings abroad

(1) If the accused in the criminal proceedings carried out in the Slovak Republic is a foreign national or resides in another State, the Slovak authorities may initiate the transfer of the criminal proceedings to that State.

(2) The decision to request the transfer of criminal proceedings abroad shall be taken by the Minister of Justice; in the pre-trial stage s/he decides upon the motion of the Prosecution General Office.

(3) The transfer of the criminal proceedings abroad may be initiated in particular if

a) the extradition of the accused from the requested State is not possible, was not granted or if extradition was not requested for another reason,
b) it seems effective and opportune to carry out the criminal prosecution in the requested State, in particular for the purposes of finding of facts, degree of punishment or the execution of the sentence,
c) if the accused was or shall be extradited to the requested State or if it is likely, for a different reason, that his personal appearance in the criminal proceedings in that State shall be possible,
d) the extradition of the person sentenced to a prison sentence by the Slovak court in a final judgement is not possible or was not granted by the requested State and the enforcement of the sentence in that State is not possible.

(4) After the decision of the requested State to accept the transfer of the criminal proceedings it shall be inadmissible in the territory of the Slovak Republic to continue the criminal prosecution of the accused, or to enforce the sentence imposed for a criminal offence in respect of which criminal proceedings were transferred.

(5) The Slovak authorities may continue the criminal proceedings or order the enforcement of the sentence, if the requested State :

a) declares that it shall not proceed in the matter,
b) subsequently revokes its decision on the transfer of the criminal proceedings, or
c) declares that it shall not continue the proceedings.

Section 530
Information on excercising of subsidiary jurisdiction

Upon the request by a foreign authority conducting or intending to conduct criminal proceedings in respect of a criminal offence committed abroad, the General Prosecutor’s Office shall inform whether the Slovak authorities exercise their jurisdiction to conduct the criminal proceedings in respect of the same offence.