Serbia

Criminal Procedure Code

Part One
GENERAL PART

Chapter VII
EVIDENCE

2. Evidentiary Actions

a) Interrogation of the Defendant

Preconditions for the Interrogation of the Defendant
Article 85

The defendant will then be invited to state expressly whether he will retain a defence counsel of his own choosing, and cautioned that if he does not choose a defence counsel in the case of mandatory defence a court appointed defence counsel will be appointed, in accordance with the provisions of this Code.

The defendant may be interrogated without a defence counsel being present if the defendant has expressly waived that right, if a duly summoned defence counsel is not present although he has been informed about the interrogation (Article 300 paragraph 1.) and there exists no possibility for the defendant to hire another defence counsel, or if the defendant has failed to secure the presence of a defence counsel even after the expiry of a period of 24 hours after first being advised about that right (Article 68 paragraph 1 item 4)), except in the case of mandatory defence.

If the defendant has not been duly advised or enabled to use the rights referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, or the statement of the defendant referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article about the presence of a defence counsel has not been entered into record, or where it was acted contrary to paragraph 4 of this Article, or where a statement of the defendant has been obtained contrary to Article 9 of this Code, the court’s decision may not be based on the defendant’s statement.

Keywords

Fair trial standards



EDIT.