Order of the Court of Naples No. 170 of 12 May 2017

With order No. 170 of 2017, the Court of Naples raised a question of constitutional legitimacy concerning Article 34.2 of the code of criminal procedure insofar it does not prevent the judge of the preliminary hearing to act as the judge in the trial against the same defendant. This, also in the event that this judge has changed the qualification of the facts of the proceeding and, consequently, the terms of indictment. In the case at hand, the public prosecutor, on the input of the judge of the preliminary hearing, had modified the offense of disclosure of children pornographic materials and attempted private violence in the offense of producing child pornographic material and the offense of persecutory acts. For the Court, the censured provision was in breach of Article 117 of the Constitution (respect for international obligations) in relation to Article 6, para. 1 of the ECHR (fair trial).