Victim's complaint (prosecution upon complaint)

The complaint is the application required for the criminal process to operate in offences whose investigation and prosecution depend on the victim's will. Insult, simple threat, simple bodily harm and damage to property are typical examples, with the statute designating such offences individually.

The application is made to the prosecutor or the police within the statutory period running from the victim's learning of the act and the offender. The period is preclusive: once missed, no investigation may be opened. In these offences the victim may withdraw until the judgment becomes final; withdrawal in principle ends the case and cannot itself be revoked.

Most complaint-dependent offences also fall within victim-offender mediation, which begins with a settlement offer to the parties. In offences prosecuted ex officio, the victim's application amounts only to a report, and withdrawal does not by itself end the proceedings.