NATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK CONCERNING DEFENDANTS AND PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY WITH INTELLECTUAL AND/OR PSYCHOSOCIAL DISABILITIES IN LAW AND PRACTICE 39 substances’. Suspects and accused persons who have a diagnosed mental health condition (although, not declared incapacitated by the court) shall also be deemed to be unable to exercise their rights of defence to the full. Thus, the term ‘mental deficiencies’ has a special procedural legal meaning and is used to refer to such conditions, due to which the suspect or accused person supposedly cannot exercise their rights of defence independently.37 The concept of legal incapacity (declared full or partial incapability to be found criminally responsible) is used in criminal proceedings in relation to persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities. According to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, a person shall be considered legally incapacitated (or not criminally responsible) when, at the time of commission of an act forbidden under this Code, they were unable to appreciate the dangerous nature of the act or to control their behaviour as a result of a mental health condition. The Criminal Code also provides for the concept of diminished capacity (diminished criminal legal capacity) which is an inability to appreciate the dangerous nature of a crime or to control one's behaviour as a result of a mental health condition that is not a sufficient ground for declaring legal incapacity. Kanapeckaitė J. (2003) Įtariamųjų (kaltinamųjų) fiziniai arba psichiniai trūkumai bei jų reikšmė įgyvendinant teisę į gynybą. 37