Libro Sexto. Costas e indemnizaciones

Every decision terminating the proceedings or an incident shall rule on the payment of procedural costs. Such costs shall be imposed on the losing party, unless the tribunal finds sufficient reason to exempt it wholly or partially.

The representatives of the Public Prosecutor's Office and defense counsel shall not be ordered to pay costs, except in cases where it is specifically provided otherwise and without prejudice to the disciplinary liability they may incur.

Costs shall comprise:

1)The expenses arising from the processing of the proceedings, and

2)The payment of fees regulated in accordance with the fee schedule, of the attorneys and other professionals who have intervened in the proceedings.

Costs shall be imposed on the accused when convicted, or when a security and correction measure is imposed on him.

When acquittals and convictions are pronounced in a judgment, the tribunal shall establish the percentage corresponding to those liable.

Co-accused who are convicted or on whom a security and correction measure is imposed in relation to the same act shall be jointly and severally liable for costs. The provision shall not apply to penal enforcement and measures of coercion.

In the crimes prosecuted, procedural costs shall be delivered to the Ministry of Public Finance, which shall allocate them to training programs for auditors, lawyers and other technical personnel working in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes.

If the accused is acquitted or a security and correction measure is not imposed on him, the costs shall be borne by the State.

For cases of dismissal of proceedings and extinction of the criminal action, the preceding article shall govern analogously, except when the decision is based on the extinction of the criminal action due to a cause supervening after the already-initiated prosecution, in which case the tribunal shall fix the percentages corresponding to the accused persons and to the State.

When the criminal prosecution cannot proceed and, therefore, the filing or the provisional closure is ordered, each party and the State shall bear their own costs.

When the adhesive complainant has provoked the procedure by means of a false or reckless accusation, the tribunal may impose the costs on him or her in whole or in part. In this case it shall previously warn him or her of this possibility and grant him or her a hearing.

The aggrieved person who reported the act shall bear his or her own expenses, unless they must be borne by the convicted person or by the person on whom a security and correction measure was imposed.

When an incident or an appeal is filed, costs shall be imposed on the party who filed it if the decision is unfavorable to that party; if that party prevails, those who have opposed its claim shall bear the costs in the proportion fixed by the tribunal. If no one has opposed, each party shall bear the costs produced by its own intervention.

In the procedure for a crime of private action, costs shall be borne by the complainant in the event of acquittal, dismissal of proceedings, dismissal or archiving, and by the accused in the event of conviction.

Where retraction by the accused person occurs or where he gives satisfactory explanations, he shall bear the costs. In these cases and in the case of waiver of criminal action, the tribunal may decide on costs in accordance with the agreement reached by the parties.

The first-instance judge who has served in the intermediate procedure is competent for the liquidation of costs. For this purpose, the sentencing tribunal shall remit to him the proceedings with certification of what was decided, including the special appeal judgment and the cassation judgment, if any. If necessary, he shall request reports from the corresponding tribunals regarding the costs that may have been incurred.

If the procedure has not reached the intermediate stage, the liquidation shall be carried out by the judge who has served in the preparatory procedure.

The decision shall be appealable with suspensive effect.

The secretary of the tribunal shall prepare a draft liquidation within a time limit of three days, regulating in accordance with the fee schedule the fees corresponding to attorneys, experts, translators and interpreters throughout the entire course of the procedure, including the remedies of appeal and cassation. Once the draft is presented, the judge shall grant the parties a hearing for three days. On the basis of what they state or in their default, he shall decide definitively.

In cases of commutation of penalty, without prejudice to ordering the liberty of the convicted person, the execution judge shall take the necessary measures to secure payment of the costs, by means of bond or guarantee for compliance therewith, estimating the value thereof approximately. If free on bond or security, he may continue at liberty while the incident on assessment of costs is resolved. The decision shall be appealable.

If the civil claim is granted in the judgment, the accused and the third-party civil defendant shall bear the costs jointly and severally; if the claim is rejected, the civil plaintiff shall bear them.

If the civil action cannot proceed, each of the interested persons shall bear their own costs, unless the tribunal, due to the circumstances of the case, distributes them otherwise.

When, by reason of the review of the procedure, the convicted person is acquitted or a lesser penalty is imposed on him, he shall be indemnified in proportion to the time of deprivation of liberty or disqualification suffered, or for that suffered in excess, unless he provoked his own prosecution by falsely denouncing himself, confessing a nonexistent fact, or intentionally concealing or altering the evidence that led to the judicial error.

The provision applies, analogously, to the case in which the review has as its object a security and correction measure.

The fine or its excess shall be refunded.

The Supreme Court of Justice, in deciding the compensation, shall fix it by means of expert appraisal.

The State shall always be obliged to pay the compensation, without prejudice to its right to seek recovery from any other obligor. For that purpose, the tribunal, when deciding the review remedies, may impose the obligation, in whole or in part, on those who have contributed intentionally or through gross fault to the judicial error; in the case of coercive measures unjustly suffered, it may impose the obligation, in whole or in part, on the complainant or the private prosecutor who has falsified the facts or litigated recklessly.

The application of a subsequent more benign law, during the procedure or through review, that renders unjust the conviction, a security and correction measure or a coercion measure, shall not give rise to the compensation regulated herein.

If the person entitled to reparation has died, their successors may collect or pursue the compensation provided for.