TITLE III
EVIDENCE AND MEANS OF EVIDENCE

CHAPTER III
MEANS OF EVIDENCE

Section I
Statements of the accused person or the defendant

Art. 69 - The statements given by the accused person or defendant during the criminal trial may lead to the truth only to the extent to which they are corroborated with facts and circumstances resulted from all the evidence in the case.

Art. 70 - Before being heard, the accused person or defendant is asked about his/her name, surname, nickname, date and place of birth, name and surname of parents, citizenship, education, military service, working place, occupation, address, criminal antecedents and other data necessary to determine his/her personal situation.

The accused person or defendant is then informed about the deed that makes the object of the case, the right to have a defender, as well as the right not to make any statement, at the same time being informed that everything he declares may be used against him/her as well. If the accused person or defendant makes a statement, he/she is asked to declare everything he/she knows related to the deed and to the accusation in connection to this.

If the accused person or defendant agrees to make a statement, the criminal investigation body, before hearing him/her, asks him/her to write personally a statement related to the guilt he is made responsible of.

Art. 71 - Every accused person or defendant is heard separately.
During the criminal investigation, if there are several accused persons or defendants, each of them is heard without the others attending.

The accused person or defendant is first left to declare everything he/she knows in relation with the case.

The hearing of the accused person or defendant cannot begin by reading or reminding the statements that the latter has previously given in relation with the case.

The accused person or defendant cannot present or read a previously written statement, but he/ she may use notes for details that are difficult to remember.

Art. 72 - After the accused person or defendant has given the statement, he/she may be asked questions in relation with the deed that constitutes the object of the case and with his/her guilt. He/she is also asked about the evidence that he/she considers fit to propose.

Art. 73 - The statements of the accused person or defendant are written down. Each declaration will also include a mention of the hour of the beginning and ending of the hearing of the accused person or defendant. The written statement is read to the accused person or defendant and, if he/she asks, he/she is handed the statement to read it. When he/she agrees with its content, signs on every page and at the end.

When the accused person or defendant cannot or refuses to sign the statement, this will be mentioned in the written statement.

The written statement is also signed by the criminal investigation body that has heard the accused person or defendant or by the president of the panel and by the clerk, as well as by the interpreter, when the declaration has been given through an interpreter.

If the accused person or defendant changes his/her mind about one of his statements or wants to make adding, corrections or specifications, these are written down and signed under the conditions shown in the present article.

Art. 74 - Whenever the accused person or defendant finds himself/ herself in the impossibility to come for a hearing, the criminal investigation body or the court hear him at the place where he/she is, unless it is provided otherwise by the law.