SPECIAL PART
SECTION 8. PRETRIAL PROCEEDINGS OF CRIMINAL CASES
CHAPTER 33. MONITORING OF CORRESPONDENCE, MAIL, TELEGRAMS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS
Article 239. Monitoring of correspondence, mail, telegrams and other communications
When there are sufficient grounds to believe that there is probatory value data in the mail or other correspondence, mail, telegrams and other communications (referred to below as correspondence) sent by the suspect or the accused or to them by other persons, the investigator can make a grounded decision to impose monitoring on the correspondence of these people.
The decision must indicate the name of the post office which is responsible for withholding of the correspondence, the name(s), surname(s) of the person(s) whose correspondence will be withheld, the accurate address of these persons, type of correspondence which is monitored and the period of monitoring.
The correspondence which can be arrested, in particular, concerns the following items: letters, telegrams, radiograms, parcels (printed matter), cases, post containers, transmissions, fax and e-mail messages.
Decision on the monitoring of correspondence is sent to the appropriate post office director for whom it is mandatory.
The director of the post office withholds the correspondence indicated in the decision of the investigator and advises the latter about that.
The monitoring of correspondence is lifted by the investigator, prosecutor or court which took the decision.
Article 240. Examination and seizure of correspondence
The investigator familiarizes the director of the post office, and when necessary, other employees of the given office, with the seizure decree, with subscription, and with participation of selected attested witnesses from the employees of the office, opens up and examines the correspondence.
When revealing documents and items which can be significant for the case, the investigator seizes the appropriate articles or confines himself to copying them. In case of absence of data which can be significant for the case, the investigator instructs to hand the examined correspondence to the addressee or to withhold it within the established period.
A protocol is written about each case of examination or withholding which indicates: by whom, where, when and exactly what correspondence was withheld or examined, why it was withheld, what should be handed over to the addressee or temporarily withheld, what correspondence it was copied from, what technical means were used and what was revealed in the given case. All persons who participated in the investigatory actions must be familiarized with the protocol which they confirm with their signatures and when necessary, are entitled to incorporate their comments into the protocol.
Article 241. Supervision over conversation
If there are sufficient grounds to suspect that the telephone conversations of the suspect or the accused or the conversations conducted by other means of communication can contain significant information for the case, the court makes a decision to permit the supervision and recording of these conversations.
The investigator makes a grounded decision on initiating an application to the court, which indicates the criminal case and grounds on which the appropriate investogatory actions must be taken, the surnames and names of the persons whose conversations are subject to supervision, the supervision period, institution which is instructed to conduct the technical implementation of supervision and recording. The decree is forwarded to the court.
In case of approval by the judge, the conversation supervision and recording decision is forwarded by the investigator to the appropriate institution for implementation. Conversation supervision and recording can be limited by no longer than six months. They are lifted when the necessity for them is over, but in any case, no later than the end of the preliminary investigation.
The investigator is entitled to demand the record at any time for examination and listening within the established period. The record is handed to the investigator in the sealed form with an accompanying letter which must indicate the time of beginning and end of the record of conversations, and necessary technical description of used devices. Examination and listening of records by the investigator is done in the presence of attesting witnesses, and when necessary, experts, about which a protocol is written, which
must literally reproduce the part of the conversation concerning the case. The record is attached to the protocol, and the irrelevant part of it is eliminated after the court verdict becomes res judicata or suspension of the case.
Taking of evidence - national proceedings
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