Provisional Dismissal for an Offence Against Public Health

Our client was investigated in preliminary proceedings for an alleged offence against public health, with an investigation opened to determine the nature and circumstances of the facts and the persons who had taken part in them. As happens in a good number of these proceedings, the mere opening of an investigation does not mean that sufficient evidence exists to sustain a prosecution: it is precisely at this investigative stage that an active technical defence proves decisive.

Our strategy was based on formally requesting that the case be dismissed under Article 641 of the Criminal Procedure Act, arguing that, after all investigative steps had been carried out, the commission of the offence giving rise to the proceedings had not been sufficiently established. We argued before the Court that there was no incriminating evidence whatsoever, not even of a circumstantial nature, capable of sustaining the continuation of proceedings against our client.

The Court fully accepted our arguments and issued an order of provisional dismissal, ordering the case to be closed on the grounds that no reasonable indication of an offence was found. The result was the closure of the case at the investigative stage itself, sparing our client the personal, professional and reputational toll of having to face a trial over facts that were never established.