7 The Confirmation Proceedings

The confirmation stage is placed between the investigation phase and the trial. It is the ‘linking interface’ between the prosecutor’s investigations and the trial.1 At some point in time someone must decide whether or not the case is serious enough to be brought before a judge or a bench in order to proceed with a fully fledged criminal trial. This is because the criminal justice system follows an accusatory structure,2 which is an outcome of the principle of the separation of powers, according to which the court (judiciary) must be institutionally separated from...