A  complaint  or  protest  may  be  lodged  to  the  court  of  supervisory instance, according to provisions of Articles 303 and 304 of Criminal  Procedure  Law , if it is considered that courts of first instance or appellate instance have substantially violated  the  Criminal  Procedure  Law  or  have  incorrectly  applied  the Criminal Law when reviewing and resolving a case.

Substantial violation of the criminal procedure law

Those violations of the requirements are which, by depriving or restricting the rights guaranteed by law of participants in a case during consideration of the case or otherwise, have prevented a court from thoroughly examining the case and have influenced or might have influenced the issuing of a legal and well-founded decree shall be deemed substantial violations of the criminal procedure law. A decision shall be subject to being annulled in any following event if:

• the decision is rendered by an illegally constituted court;
• the case is considered without the defendant in  instances when his/her presence is legally obligatory;
• suspect, accused, or defendant was not provided with an opportunity to be defended;
• the  secrecy  of  the  judges'  conference  carried  out  in conference room is revealed;
• the decision is not signed by one of the judges;
• the file of the case lacks a record of the judicial session;
• provision of  law  that  requires  obligatory  participation  of citizens' representative in judicial session was violated.

Incorrect application of criminal law

If  one  of  the  following  conditions  exists,  it  shall  constitute  incorrect application of the criminal law:

• failure of a court to apply the applicable law;
• application of law that should not be applied;
• incorrect interpretation  of  a  law  contradicting  its  precise meaning.

The  appeals  and  protests  shall  be  filed  through  the  court  which made the decision. In  occasions  when  a  compliant  or  protest  has  been  lodged  through supervisory  procedure  against  a decision  or ruling,  the  court  of first  or appellate instance shall inform the parties on this and advise their right to give an explanation regarding the complaint or protest. The  court  shall  review  and  resolve  the  case  within  30  days  after receiving  the  case  and  based  on  complicated  nature  of  the  case  the Presiding Justice of the Chamber may extend the term for 14 days.