When an application for a formal accusation has been filed, when does the progress of the prosecution limitation period stop, and until which event does it stay stopped?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the application for a formal accusation, the date it was received by the court, the ruling made on it, and the paper showing when that ruling became final and binding, because the provision turns on the interval between those two dates.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading follows the provision exactly: once an application for a formal accusation is made under the provision on who may apply for one, the progress of the prosecution limitation period under the Criminal Procedure Act is suspended, and it remains suspended until the ruling on the formal accusation becomes final and binding; the word 'suspended' leaves the time already run intact rather than erasing it.
Another reading stresses what the provision does not reach: it ties the end of the suspension to the moment of finality of the ruling, so the file must fix that moment, and the provision says nothing about what resumes the running of the period if the application is withdrawn or never proceeds to a ruling.
Your judgment
If the application was withdrawn before any ruling, what in the file could fix the date on which the suspension came to an end?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to cover withdrawal of the application, or if a court decision explains when a ruling on a formal accusation counts as final for the purpose of this suspension.