Case C-377/18: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad (Bulgaria) lodged on 8 June 2018 — Criminal proceedings against AH, PB, CX, KM, PH

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad (Bulgaria) lodged on 8 June 2018 — Criminal proceedings against AH, PB, CX, KM, PH

(Case C-377/18)

Referring court

Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad

Accused persons

AH, PB, CX, KM, PH

Question referred

Is national case-law which requires that, in the text of an agreement (entered into in the context of criminal proceedings), not only the accused person who has admitted that he is guilty of a criminal offence and has entered into that agreement, but also other accused persons, the joint perpetrators of the offence, who have not entered into that agreement, who have not admitted that they are guilty and against whom the case continues in accordance with ordinary criminal procedure, but who have agreed to the first accused person entering into that agreement, be identified as perpetrators of the criminal offence in question, compatible with the first sentence of Article 4(1), read in conjunction with the first sentence of recital 16 and with recital 17, of Directive 2016/343? ( 1 )

( 1 ) Directive (EU) 2016/343 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings (OJ 2016 L 65, p. 1).