CHAPTER IV
Investigation and prosecution
Article 23. Interlocutory proceeding for comprehensive reparation. In the same hearing in which the respective Chamber of the Superior Judicial District Court finds that the acceptance of the charges is lawful, after an express request made by the victim, or by the prosecutor handling the case or by the Public Ministry upon request of the victim, the judge writing for the court shall immediately open the interlocutory proceeding for comprehensive reparation of the harm caused by the criminal conduct, and shall call a public hearing within five (5) days.
That hearing shall begin with a statement by the victim or his or her legal representative or public defender, to state specifically the type of reparation sought, and to indicate the evidence that he or she will introduce to support his or her claims.
The Chamber shall examine the claim, and shall dismiss it if the person filing it is not the victim or if actual payment of the damages is shown and if this were the only claim made; said decision may be challenged in the terms of this law.
Once the claim is admitted, the Chamber shall inform the accused that it has accepted the charges, and will then invite the parties involved to conciliate. If they reach agreement, it shall be incorporated in the ruling in the interlocutory proceeding; otherwise, it shall order that the evidence offered by the parties be produced, it shall hear the arguments in support of their respective claims, and in the same act it shall rule on the interlocutory proceeding. A decision either way shall be incorporated into the guilty verdict.
Paragraph 1. Exclusively for the purposes of the conciliation provided for in this article,
the victim, the accused or defense counsel, the prosecutor handling the case, or the Public Ministry may ask that the Director of the Social Solidarity Network (Red de Solidaridad Social) be subpoenaed in his capacity as controller of expenditures of the Fund for the Reparation of Victims.
Paragraph 2. The granting of an alternative penalty may not be denied if the victim fails to exercise his or her right in the interlocutory proceeding for comprehensive reparation.
Reparations to victims - national proceedings
Appearance of victims - national proceedings
Determination of sentence - national proceedings
National penalties - national proceedings
EDIT.