Part I

Every branch of law, despite its organic developments and transformations and regardless of any national particularities, recognizes fundamental institutions—true legal constants—that are present in every legal system and at every point in history.

Thus, just as the institution of property is to civil law and the institution of punishment is to criminal law, so is the institution of pretrial detention to criminal procedural law.

The excessive nature of this measure, as well as the negative consequences it entails in relation to the fundamental right to liberty, require strict adherence both to the legal framework within which the measure exists and to the safeguards provided by the fundamental principles of the presumption of innocence and the guarantee of personal liberty in criminal proceedings.

In this article, I have sought to outline the procedural stages involved in ordering the pretrial detention of a suspect, highlighting the logical-legal paradox that, under our legal system, allows for the deprivation of liberty of a person for whom there is insufficient evidence to initiate criminal proceedings, thereby transforming that person into a defendant.

Furthermore, in the context of international judicial cooperation in criminal matters, I have also analyzed a special form of deprivation of liberty, namely provisional arrest ordered in extradition proceedings, in light of the provisions of Law No. 302/2004 on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

Keywords: pretrial detention, right to liberty, presumption of innocence, initiation of criminal proceedings, international judicial cooperation in criminal matters, provisional arrest, extradition