Delimitation of Offences under Article 243 and Article 239(1) of the Polish Criminal Code – Considerations in the Context of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in Szczecin of 12 January 2016, II AKA 151/15

The paper addresses the problem of delineating the offence of facilitating the escape of a person deprived of liberty on the basis of a court decision or a legal order issued by another state authority (Article 243 of the Criminal Code) and the offence of assistance in avoiding criminal liability (Article 239(1) of the Criminal Code). The author claims that assistance provided after the escape should be considered an offence under Article 239(1) of the Criminal Code. He also draws attention to the problems occurring in practice with regard to the differentiation of these types of offences. His analysis also leads him to formulate postulates for the law as it should stand (de lege ferenda).