Lodging a complaint in Monaco: the filter of the ordinary complaint

Do you wish to lodge a complaint in Monaco? You are hesitating between an ordinary complaint (plainte simple) and a complaint with a civil action (plainte avec constitution de partie civile)? This article is made for you.

On the existing types of complaints and the rights granted to the plaintiff

There are commonly two types of complaints : the ordinary complaint and the complaint with a civil action.

The complaint with a civil action enables the plaintiff to have access to the file of the proceedings and to request any useful acts of investigation for the demonstration of the truth.

This type of complaint should be privileged for any plaintiff whishing to follow-up and participate in the investigations headed by the police and the investigating judge through observations and requests.

A sole civil action (separated from the initial complaint) can also be lodged by any third party who has personally and directly suffered the damage resulting from the facts alleged in the complaint.

In this case, the victim is not considered as the plaintiff but only as a civil party (partie civile).

Lodging a civil action (otherwise called constituing as a civil party in the criminal proceedings) grants the applicant (plaintiff or third party) to take legal action and to be able to claim damages in the event that the accused persons are brought before the Monegasque criminal courts.

When the investigation is ongoing, the civil action can only be lodged before the investigating judge.

In any case, lodging a complaint with a civil action or constituing directly as a civil party in the criminal proceedings implies a prior deposit of money before the general clerk's office.

This deposit is justified in terms of the costs of the proceedings for which the person may be liable, unless they can prove a lack of ressources (article 77 of the criminal procedure code).

Filling a complaint with a civil action should also be decided in light of the fact it could entail a more or less significant financial cost.

By contrast with the complaint with a civil action, the ordinary complaint does not enable the applicant to have access to the investigation file.

This is due to the fact that the inquiry (enquête préliminaire) is deemed to be secret and not adversarial.

Though, this general rule was recently mitigated by Law n°1.533 dated 9th December 2022 (on this topic, see news dated 17 January 2023 "New rights of access to the file and observations for the persons concerned by a preliminary investigation" published on the CMS website).

However, lodging an ordinary complaint is free for the plaintiff and does not require any prior deposit.

As regards the inquiry, the plaintiff or victims are admissible to lodge a civil action at the end of the proceedings in the event of a referral before the Criminal Court.

In any case, i.e. further to an inquiry without civil parties constituted or further to an investigation in which a victim did not lodge a civil action, lodging a civil action shall be possible before the closure of a discussion on the day of the hearing before the Criminal Court.

In this case, lodging a civil action / constituing as a civil party will enable the applicant to request damages.

For the record, please note that the ordinary complaint is usually addressed either directly by written letter of the plaintiff for the attention of the General Prosecutor (domiciled at the Courthouse of Monaco), or by oral statement or written letter to a judicial police officer in a Monegasque police station.

As regards the complaint with a civil action, it should be registered by written letter for the attention of the investigating judge at the Courthouse of Monaco.

On requirements to lodge the aforementioned complaints

Any person aware of a crime or misdemeanor may report it (article 64 of the Criminal Procedure code).

The relative in the ascending line, the legal guardian or the curator for minors under their authority may file a complaint (article 68 of the code of criminal procedure).

As a result of the amendment of article 74 of the criminal procedure code by Law n°1.534 dated 9 December 2022, as of 1st May 2023 it will be admitted to lodge a complaint with a civil action before the investigating judge only in the following cases : 

• For all criminal offences;
• For offences with a penalty of more than three years' imprisonment;
• For offences punishable by imprisonment lower or equal to three years, only if an ordinary complaint was lodged before the police or the General Prosecutor and followed either by a decision to dismiss the complaint or by a period of three months without any investigative act from the Police or the General Prosecutor.    

This concerns in particular the following offences : breach of trust, abuse of weakness, bankruptcy, fraudulent organization of insolvency, rebellion, insults and violence towards the representatives of the public power, the authority and the public force, written or verbal threat without order or condition, oral threats with orders or conditions, manslaughter, public indecency, failure to assist a person in danger or failure to report an offence, abandonment of family, slanderous denunciation, violation of secrecy, invasion of privacy and family life, moral harassment.

Pursuant to new provisions of article 74 of the criminal procedure code, the aforementioned offences should first be denounced by an ordinary complaint.

The complaint with civil action cannot deal with a contravention.

On the contrary, an ordinary complaint is possible in all cases.

The civil action / constitution of a civil party by which the applicant ask for compensation for the damage directly caused by an act constituting an offence belongs to all those who have personally suffered in accordance with article 2 of criminal procedure code.

The public action resulting from crimes and offences of money laundering is prescribed after ten years from the day the offence was committed (article 12 of the code of criminal procedure).

The public action resulting from any crime committed against a minor is prescribed after thirty years from the day the minor came of age.

As a matter of principle, the public action resulting from a misdemeanor is prescribed after three years, starting from the day the misdemeanor was committed (article 13 of the criminal procedure code), except in matters of corruption or influence peddling (5 years).

Finally, the public action resulting from a contravention is prescribed one year after the day on which it was committed (article 14 of the criminal procedure code).

The statute of limitations is interrupted by any act of prosecution or investigative act that has taken place (i.e each interruption shall start time running afresh). This interruption rule benefits to all including persons not involved in the proceedings (Article 17 of the criminal procedure Code).