GENERAL PART

Section One : GENERAL PROVISIONS

CHAPTER 2. PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Article 23. Adversarial System of Criminal Proceedings

1. Criminal proceedings shall be conducted on the basis of the principle of adversarial process.

2. Criminal prosecution, defense, and final resolution of a case shall be separated from each other and shall be conducted by different bodies and persons.

3. The court is not a body supporting either the prosecution, or defense party, while maintaining and expressing only the interests of the law and justice.

4. The court trying a criminal case, shall uphold the principles of objectivity and impartiality and shall create necessary conditions for both parties to comprehensively and fully examine all the circumstances of the case. The court is not bound by the opinions of the parties and is entitled to undertake, upon its own initiative, all the necessary measures to reveal the truth in the criminal case.

5. The parties to a criminal proceeding are empowered by the criminal-procedural legislation with equal rights and chances to defend and support their own positions. The verdict of the court may be based on such evidence only, examination of which has been made equally accessible for both parties.

6. In the choice of their standpoints and methods and measures to be used to maintain those standpoints in the course of criminal proceedings, the parties shall be independent of the court or any other bodies and persons. Upon the motion of a party, the court shall assist such party in receiving necessary materials, in the manner prescribed by this Code.

7. The court shall ensure the right of the parties to participate in the trial of the case by the court of first instance and the appellate court. The person who brought the appeal is entitled to be present in the cassation court.

8. Participation of the parties in the examination of a criminal case at the court is obligatory. In every criminal case, prosecution shall be represented at the trial by a prosecutor.

Article 67
Rights of the accused
1. In the determination of any charge, the accused shall be entitled to a public hearing, having regard to the provisions of this Statute, to a fair hearing conducted impartially, and to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail of the nature, cause and content of the charge, in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defence and to communicate freely with counsel of the accused’s choosing in confidence;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) Subject to article 63, paragraph 2, to be present at the trial, to conduct the defence in person or through legal assistance of the accused’s choosing, to be informed, if the accused does not have legal assistance, of this right and to have legal assistance assigned by the Court in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment if the accused lacks sufficient means to pay for it;
(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him or her and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his or her behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him or her. The accused shall also be entitled to raise defences and to present other evidence admissible under this Statute;
(f) To have, free of any cost, the assistance of a competent interpreter and such translations as are necessary to meet the requirements of fairness, if any of the proceedings of or documents presented to the Court are not in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify or to confess guilt and to remain silent, without such silence being a consideration in the determination of guilt or innocence;
(h) To make an unsworn oral or written statement in his or her defence; and
(i) Not to have imposed on him or her any reversal of the burden of proof or any onus of rebuttal.
2. In addition to any other disclosure provided for in this Statute, the Prosecutor shall, as soon as practicable, disclose to the defence evidence in the Prosecutor’s possession or control which he or she believes shows or tends to show the innocence of the accused, or to mitigate the guilt of the accused, or which may affect the credibility of prosecution evidence. In case of doubt as to the application of this paragraph, the Court shall decide.