Robbery

Legal defence in robbery cases

The offence of robbery (Article 233 of the Criminal Code) is a particularly serious criminal act affecting both property and a person’s liberty or physical integrity, consisting of theft committed through violence or threats or by rendering the victim unconscious or unable to defend themselves. Keeping stolen property by using these coercive means also constitutes robbery. Criminal law punishes this offence extremely severely, with imprisonment for 2 to 7 years and prohibition of the exercise of certain rights. Since prosecution begins ex officio and reconciliation between the parties does not remove criminal liability, the presence of a criminal defence lawyer is absolutely mandatory from the first moment of police custody.

Legal classification and defence strategies

Robbery allegations require rigorous dissection of the material elements because investigating authorities sometimes tend to automatically associate a spontaneous conflict followed by loss of property with this complex offence. A principal direction of the defence strategy focuses on reclassifying the act as less serious concurrent offences, such as assault or other violence and simple theft, thereby eliminating the causal connection between the violence and the purpose of taking property, which drastically reduces the penalty limits.
Critical analysis of the injured person’s statements, forensic medical reports and surveillance-camera footage is an essential pillar of the defence. The aim is to rebut the prosecutor’s presumptions by highlighting glaring contradictions in the allegation, proving that the violence was not intended to appropriate the property or invoking self-defence in a mutual altercation where the property was moved accidentally. Where the act is evident, the strategy will focus on compensation for harm and the relevance of subsequent conduct to sentencing. Robbery is excluded from the statutory mitigating circumstance in Article 75(1)(d); compensation may be relevant to judicial assessment but does not guarantee reduced limits or suspension.

Legal assistance and representation in Focșani and Vrancea County

As a violent offence, an allegation of robbery leads almost immediately to preventive deprivation of liberty, such as 24-hour police custody and a proposal for pre-trial detention. The office of Lawyer Basuc Cosmin in Focșani offers urgent 24/7 legal assistance in robbery cases throughout Vrancea county. We represent you at interviews before criminal investigation authorities and prosecutors’ offices, challenge detention requests with technical arguments before the judge of rights and freedoms and provide a dynamic defence at trial before Focșani District Court or the Vrancea Tribunal, protecting your liberty and procedural rights.