Chapter 10
COURT PROCEDURE IN COUNTY COURTS
Division 4
Examination by Court
§ 288. Cross-examination
(1) In a cross-examination, the party to the court proceeding at whose request the witness has been summoned to the court is the first to examine the witness. If several participants in the proceeding have requested a witness to be summoned and they fail to reach an agreement concerning the right of first examination, the court shall determine who is the first to examine the witness.
(2) It is prohibited to pose leading questions during a first examination without the permission of the court. A first examination is followed by the second examination by the counter-party.
(3) Leading questions may be posed in the second examination in order to verify the testimony given in the first examination. In the second examination, leading questions shall not be posed concerning new facts without the permission of the court.
(4) The person who was the first to examine a witness may examine the witness again in order to clarify the answers given in the second examination. Leading questions may be posed without the permission of the court only concerning the new facts treated in the second examination.
(5) A court may, at the request of a party to the court proceeding, overrule prohibited or irrelevant questions posed to a witness during cross-examination. The court may, on its own initiative, overrule questions which harm the witness' dignity.
(6) The court has the right to pose questions to a witness who has been cross-examined.
(7) Taking into consideration the mental or physical condition of a witness, the court may prohibit cross-examination and examine the witness on its own initiative or on the basis of the written questions prepared by the parties to the court proceeding.
(8) § 66 and subsections (3) and (6) of this Code apply to cross-examination.
(9) During cross-examination, a party to the court proceeding may :
1) use visual aids which are not evidence but help to present the testimony of the witness without being misleading ;
2) submit evidence and documents to the court and question the witness about their authenticity, origin and interconnection thereof ;
3) allow the witness who does not remember the facts relating to a subject of proof to examine a document or another object which may help the witness to recall the facts regardless of the admissibility of such documents or objects as evidence.
(10) If a witness refuses during cross-examination to answer the question of a party to the court proceeding, with the exception of the case prescribed in subsection (5) of this section, the court interrupts the cross-examination and decides on the use of the earlier testimony given by the witness as evidence at the request of the party on the basis of clause 291 (1) 2) of this Code regardless of the content of the testimony hitherto given in the cross-examination. In the case specified in this subsection, testimonies obtained in interrupted cross-examinations are evidence only with the consent of the parties.
[RT I, 23.02.2011, 1 - entry into force 01.09.2011]
Fair trial standards
Rights during trial - examine witnesses
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