CHAPTER 4
COOPERATION WITH AND ASSISTANCE TO COURT IN OR OUTSIDE SOUTH AFRICA (ss 8-32)
Part 2
Judicial assistance to court (ss 14-32)
14 Areas of cooperation and judicial assistancer
The relevant competent authorities in the Republic must, subject to the domestic law of the Republic and the Statute, cooperate with, and render assistance to, the Court in relation to investigations and prosecutions in the following areas:
(a) The identification and whereabouts of persons or the location of items;
(b) the taking of evidence, including testimony under oath, and the production of evidence, including expert opinions and reports necessary to the Court;
(c) the questioning of any person being investigated or prosecuted;
(d) the service of documents, including judicial documents;
(e) facilitating the voluntary appearance of persons as witnesses or experts before the Court;
(f) the temporary transfer of persons in custody for purposes of identification or for obtaining testimony or other assistance;
(g) the examination of places or sites, including the exhumation and examination of grave sites;
(h) the execution of searches and seizures;
(i) the provision of records and documents, including official records and documents;
(j) the protection of victims and witnesses and the preservation of evidence;
(k) the identification, tracing and freezing or seizure of proceeds, property and assets and instrumentalities of crimes for the purpose of eventual forfeiture, without prejudice to the rights of bona fide third parties; and
(l) any other type of assistance which is not prohibited by law, with the view to facilitating the investigation and prosecution of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.
15 Request for assistance in obtaining evidence
(1) A request by the Court for assistance in obtaining evidence in the Republic for use in the Court must be submitted in writing to the Central Authority.
(2) Upon receipt of such request the Central Authority must satisfy itself that-
(a) proceedings have been instituted in the Court; or
(b) there are reasonable grounds for believing that a crime has been committed within the jurisdiction of the Court; or
(c) an investigation in respect thereof is being conducted by the Prosecutor of the Court.
(3) For purposes of subsection (2), the Central Authority may rely on a certificate purporting to have been issued by a judge of the Court or the Prosecutor of the Court, confirming one or more of the requirements referred to in subsection (2).
(4) If the Central Authority is satisfied that one or more of the requirements as contemplated in subsection (2) have been complied with, it must submit the request contemplated in subsection (1) to the magistrate within whose area of jurisdiction the witness resides or is believed to be present, as well as to the National Director.
16 Examination of witnesses
(1) The magistrate to whom a request has been forwarded in terms of section 15 (4) must cause the person whose evidence is required, to be summoned to appear before him or her to give evidence or to produce any book, document, or object.
(2) A person referred to in subsection (1) must be summoned in the prescribed manner.
(3) Upon the appearance of that person, the magistrate must administer an oath to or accept an affirmation from him or her and take the evidence of that person upon interrogatories or otherwise, as if the said person were a witness in a competent South African court of law in proceedings similar to those in connection with which his or her evidence is required.
(4) Upon completion of the examination of the witness, the magistrate taking the evidence must as soon as possible transmit to the Central Authority the record of the evidence certified by him or her to be correct, together with a certificate setting out the costs incurred in connection with the execution of the Court's request, including any extraordinary costs which have emanated from the execution of that request.
(5) If the services of an interpreter were used at the examination of the witness, the interpreter must, in the prescribed manner, certify that he or she has translated truthfully and to the best of his or her ability and that certificate must accompany the documents referred to in subsection (4).
(6) The Central Authority must, on receipt of the documents referred to in subsections (4) and (5), submit them to the Registrar of the Court, indicating which costs emanating from the execution of the request, in its opinion, should be borne by the Court in terms of Article 100 of the Statute.
17 Rights and privileges of witnesses before magistrate
(1) In respect of the giving of evidence or the production of any book, document or object at an examination in terms of section 16, the laws of the Republic relating to privilege applicable to such a witness in a magistrate's court in similar proceedings apply.
(2) A person summoned to appear before a magistrate in terms of section 16 may be assisted by a legal practitioner in the proceedings contemplated in that section.
Other forms of cooperation
Request for other forms of cooperation
EDIT.