The Role and Performance of the Council Chamber in the Criminal ‎Trial Process in Belgium

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 ‎Department of law, Faclty of Humanities, University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Iran.‎

2 Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 ‎Department of Criminal Law, Catholic University of Louvian, Brussels, Belgium‎

Abstract

In Belgium, in addition to the investigating judge, the prosecutor, and the court judge, the Council Chamber is also provided in the criminal proceedings. The function of this chamber is to create a link between the preliminary investigation phase and the trial phase. The Council Chamber has jurisdiction only over felonies and misdemeanors. After the investigation is conducted by the public prosecutor's office and before the case is sent to court, this chamber reviews the case again to prevent cases with insufficient evidence of the defendant's guilt from being forwarded to court. Contrary to the initial assumption that it might be redundant and lead to delays in proceedings, this chamber plays a significant role in ensuring the defendant's rights by having the authority to issue various rulings, including dismissals, summonses to trial, annulments of evidence, and pre-trial detention. Although currently, due to a shortage of human resources in the judicial system of Iran—primarily stemming from a lack of financial resources to recruit new staff—the establishment of an institution similar to the Council Chamber in Iran may seem somewhat idealistic and perhaps unrealistic, familiarizing ourselves with the functioning of such an institution in Belgium (which is the subject of this article) can help us understand its advantages and make the establishment of this institution a possibility for the future under favorable conditions, or at least worthy of consideration and examination.

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References

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Comparative Law Review
Volume 16, Issue 1 - Serial Number 31
Spring & Summer 2025
June 2025
Pages 149-170

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