Part Three. Court Proceedings
Section IX. Proceedings in a Court of the First Instance
Chapter 37. Judicial Investigation
Article 278. Interrogation of Witnesses
1. The witnesses shall be interrogated apart and in the absence of the still not interrogated witnesses.
2. Before the interrogation, the presiding justice shall identify the person of the witness, find out his relationship with the defendant and with the victim, and explain to him his rights, liabilities and responsibility, stipulated by Article 56 of the present Code, on which the witness shall give a written signed statement that shall be enclosed to the protocol of the court session.
3. The first to put questions to the witness shall be the party, on whose petition he was summoned to the court session. The judge shall put questions to the witness after the latter has been interrogated by the parties .
4. The interrogated witnesses may leave the courtroom before the end of the judicial investigation with the permission of the presiding justice, who shall take into account in doing this the opinion of the parties.
5. If it is necessary to provide for the security of the witness, of his close relatives, relations and near persons, the court shall have the right to conduct his interrogation without making public the genuine data of the witness's person under the conditions, precluding a visual observation of the witness by the other participants in the judicial proceedings, on which the court shall pass a ruling or a resolution.
6. If the parties put forward a substantiated petition on revealing the genuine information on the person who is giving evidence, in connection with the need to carry out the defence of the person at the bar or to establish some circumstances, essential for the examination of the criminal case, the court shall have the right to grant to the parties an opportunity to get acquainted with the said information.
Article 279. Making Use of Written Notes and Documents by the Victim and by the Witness
1. The victim and the witness may make use of the written notes, which shall be submitted to the court upon its demand.
2. The victim and the witness shall be permitted to read out the documents in their possession, which have a bearing on their evidence. These documents shall be submitted to the court and, in accordance with its ruling or resolution, may be enclosed to the criminal case materials.
Article 280. Specifics in an Interrogation of a Minor Victim and Witness
1. If in the interrogation are involved the victims and the witnesses, aged less than fourteen, and at the discretion of the court also those aged from fourteen to eighteen, a pedagogue shall be participating. An interrogation of the minor victims or witnesses with physical or mental defects shall in all cases be conducted in the presence of a pedagogue.
2. Before the start of the interrogation of a minor, the presiding justice shall explain to the pedagogue his rights, on which the corresponding entry shall be made in the protocol of the court session.
3. The pedagogue shall have the right to put questions to the minor victim or witness with the permission of the presiding justice.
4. If necessary, to take part in the interrogation of the under age victims or witnesses, who are pointed out in the first part of this Article, shall also be summoned their legal representatives, who may put questions to the interrogated minor with the permission of the presiding justice. An interrogation of the victim or of the witness, who has not reached fourteen years of age, shall be conducted with an obligatory participation of his legal representative.
5. Before an interrogation of the victims and of the witnesses, who have not reached the age of fourteen, the presiding justice shall explain to them the importance of an exhaustive and truthful evidence for the criminal case. These persons shall not be warned against the refusal to give evidence and against giving a deliberately false evidence, and no signed statements shall be demanded from them.
6. To protect the rights of the minor, an interrogation of the victims and of the witnesses, who have not reached the age of eighteen, may be conducted, upon the petition of the parties and at the initiative of the court, in the absence of the defendant, on which the court shall pass a ruling or a resolution. After taking the defendant back to the courtroom, he shall be informed about the testimony of these persons and given an opportunity to put questions to them.
7. After completing the interrogation, the victim or the witness who has not reached the age of eighteen, the pedagogue who was present at his interrogation, as well as the legal representatives of the victim or of the witness may leave the courtroom with the permission of the presiding justice .
Procedure for witness testimony - national proceedings
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