The Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan r u l e s, as follows:

To enact the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Tashkent, September 22, 1994

No. 2013-XII

GENERAL PART

SECTION ONE. BASIC PROVISIONS

CHAPTER 1. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW

Procedure for criminal proceedings in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be established by the Criminal Procedure Code.

The procedure for criminal proceedings established by this Code shall be binding upon courts, prosecution, investigation and inquiry agencies, and bar as well as upon other persons.

The objectives of the criminal procedure law shall be speedy and complete crime detection, finding of guilty persons, and securing proper law enforcement in order to impose a person, who committed a crime, to a fair punishment, and to secure an innocent person from being brought to responsibility and convicted.

The procedure for criminal proceedings established by the criminal procedure law shall promote enhancement of the rule of law, crime prevention, protection of the interests of individual, state and society.

Criminal proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the law in effect at the moment of the inquiry, pretrial investigation and trial, regardless of the place of the commission of an offense, unless otherwise stipulated by an international treaty to which the Republic of Uzbekistan is a party.

Proceedings on crimes committed by foreign nationals or stateless persons on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be conducted in accordance with this Code.

With regard to persons enjoying immunity, this Code shall be applied to the extent not violating international treaties to which the Republic of Uzbekistan is a party.

Communication of courts, prosecutors, and investigators with the respective agencies of foreign States on requests of the extradition or other criminal procedures shall be conducted in accordance with the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the treaties and agreements between the Republic of Uzbekistan and other States.

The courts and investigating agencies of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall grant the requests of foreign agencies for conducting judicial or investigating procedures, such as interrogation of a witness, accused, forensic examiner, and other persons, as well as view, examination, search, seizure, and transfer of physical evidence, preparation and sending of documents and others. Request of the foreign agencies sent directly to the court or investigating agencies shall be granted only upon the approval of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan or the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan respectively. Requests of foreign agencies on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be granted in accordance with Article 3 of this Code.

In case of impossibility to grant a request of a foreign agency, it shall be sent back to the requesting agency via the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan or the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan attached with attachment specifying reasons for non-granting.

The Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall enjoy a direct communication with relevant foreign agencies on the above matters.

Request of a foreign agency to institute of criminal proceedings against a national of the Republic of Uzbekistan, who has committed a crime on the territory of another State and returned to the Republic of Uzbekistan, shall be considered by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which shall examine the admissibility of the request. The results of the consideration shall be communicated to the requesting agency. If the requested person has been prosecuted, the notice of conviction with the certified copy of the sentence shall be sent to the requesting foreign agency.

If a foreign national has committed a crime on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan and then left it, evidentiary materials collected thereof by inquiry and investigation agencies shall be submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which may send a request to institute proceedings against that person to the appropriate agencies of a foreign state.

If a criminal case is instituted, or conviction is sustained towards a person who has committed a crime on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic Uzbekistan, in accordance with the relevant international treaties and agreements, shall make a request to extradite the person in question to the appropriate agencies of a foreign State.

A request of extradition shall contain:

1. Last name, first name, patronymics, date of birth, nationality, physical description, and photograph of the person accused or convicted;
2. Description of the circumstances of the crime committed along with the text of the law that provides for liability for such crime, and an indication of punishment that can be imposed;
3. Information on venue and time of rendering the sentence as well as on its legal effect.

A request to extradite a person shall be attached with a copy of the sentence or the resolution on recognizing a person as an accused in the criminal case.

A person extradited to the Republic of Uzbekistan by a foreign state may not be prosecuted as a defendant, subjected to a penalty, or extradited to a third State for the crime committed before the extradition and for which the person was not extradited, without the consent of the extraditing State.

Extradition shall not be permitted if:

1. the person, with respect to whom the extradition request has been entered, is a national of the Republic of Uzbekistan, unless otherwise provided by the international treaties and agreements between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the other States;
2. the crime in question has been committed on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
3. for the same crime a sentence has been rendered and taken legal effect, or the criminal proceedings have been discontinued in respect to the person, who is requested to be extradited;
4. according to the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a criminal case may not be initiated nor a sentence may not be executed due to the expiration of the statutory time limit or on any other legal ground;
5. the act underlying the extradition request is not recognized as a criminal offense under the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan;

A judge, prosecutor, investigator, inquiry officer, defense counsel, and other persons participating in criminal proceedings shall strictly observe and enforce the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, this Code, and other laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Any departure from strict observance and enforcement of the laws, regardless of the reasons thereof, shall be considered as a violation of the criminal proceedings and entails liability.

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, only court shall administer criminal justice.

Criminal cases shall be examined by a multiple-member court, except those envisaged by Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 15 of the Criminal Code, which shall be examined with single-judge proceeding.

The multiple-member examination at court of first instance shall be conducted by a judge and two people’s assessors. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall examine cases at the court of first instance by three judges.

At trial, the people’s assessors shall be entitled to all judicial powers. They enjoy equal resolution power with the chief judge at the hearing and adjudication.

The trial at courts of appeal, review, and supervision shall be conducted by three judges. The petitions for review and appeal on the judgments of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be examined by the respective chambers of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan by five judges. (As amended by Law of 14.12.2000).

The Presidium of the court shall hear cases when a simple majority of its members is available.

The Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall hear cases when a two-thirds majority of its members is available.

Judges and people’s assessors shall be independent and accountable to the law only. Judges and people’s assessors shall examine and adjudicate criminal cases under the rule of law.

Any intervention into obligations of judges and people’s assessors shall be prohibited and entail liability.

Upon discovery of elements of a crime and within their competence, a court, prosecutor, investigator and inquiry officer shall be obliged to initiate a criminal case and take all necessary legal measures to establish of the event and actors of a crime and to punish guilty.

Criminal justice shall be administered on the basis of equality of individuals before the law and the court, notwithstanding their age, race, ethnicity, language, religion, social origin, belief, and personal and social status.

A judge, prosecutor, investigator, and inquiry officer shall respect honor and dignity of individuals participating in case.

Nobody may be subject to violence, torture, or other cruel or degrading treatment.

Acts or decisions, which degrade dignity, violate privacy, endanger health, and cause unjustified physical or moral suffering, shall be strictly prohibited.

All state agencies and officials conducting criminal proceedings shall protect rights and freedoms of the persons participating therein.

No one may be taken into custody except under a court decision or a warrant of a prosecutor.

A court and prosecutor shall release immediately a person, who has been illegally apprehended or deprived of his liberty, or held in custody longer than envisaged by the law or the court’s sentence.

Personal privacy, inviolability of dwellings, confidentiality of correspondence, telephone and other conversations, postal, telegraph, and other communications, shall be protected by law.

Search, seizure, view of dwelling or other premises and territories, which belong to a person, as well as impounding postal or telegraph communications or seizure thereof at a communication office, wiretapping of phones or other communications may be conducted pursuant to the procedure established by this Code only.

Damage caused to a person by interference with his rights and freedoms during criminal proceedings shall be compensated in accordance with the procedure established by this Code.

A hearing on criminal case shall be public, except for the instances inconsistent with the reasons of protection of state secrets, or connected with hearing on sexual crimes.

In camera hearing shall be permitted on juvenile crimes, as well as on other cases, when it is required to prevent disclosure of private or degrading information, and to ensure security of a victim, witness or other party in the case, as well as their family members or immediate relatives.

Private postal and telephone correspondence can be disclosed during the open court hearing only upon the consent of the sender and receiver. Otherwise they shall be disclosed and examined in the in camera hearing.

In camera hearing shall be conducted with observance of all procedural rules. A court may render a finding may on in camera hearings for the entire case or a part thereof. The finding shall concern the general public only and not be applied to the participants of the proceedings.

A court may allow immediate relatives of a defendant and victim, as well as other persons concerned, to attend in camera sessions, after warning them of the liability for disclosure of the circumstances revealed therein.

The court may prohibit certain persons to attend a public court hearing for keeping order in the courtroom.

Audio, photo, and video recording in the courtroom shall be allowed by the presiding judge only.

Sentences, findings, and rulings of a court shall be read out publicly, both in public and in camera hearings.

For enhancing publicity in administration of justice, the court may, if needed, notify mass media, public organization and groups concerned on hearings to be conducted, as well as conduct the hearings at the premises of enterprises, institutions, and organizations.

Criminal proceedings shall be conducted in the Uzbek or Karakalpak languages, or in the language of majority of the population of the respective area.

Participants in criminal proceedings, who do not have command of the language of the proceedings in the criminal case or whose command of the language is not adequate, may make statements, give explanations and testimony, file motions and complaints, and speak in court in their native language or another language of which they have command. In such cases, as well as to get familiarized with the criminal case file, the participants of the proceedings shall be secured with the assistance of an interpreter/translator in accordance with the procedure set by the law.

Documents of pretrial investigation and court hearing to be delivered to the accused, defendant or other participants of the proceedings, shall be translated into the native language of the participant concerned or into a language he has command of.

During criminal investigation and trial, an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court may, within their jurisdiction, use assistance of the public to establish circumstances of an offense, search and catch an offender, make a fair judgment, as well as to identify the causes and conditions of the crime.

Representatives of public organizations and groups may participate in criminal proceedings as public accusers and public defenders.

An inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court shall establish the event of crime, the offender, as well as all other relevant issues.

Only the information discovered, checked, and evaluated in accordance with the procedure envisaged by this Code may be used for the establishment of the issue. Obtaining statements from a suspect, accused, defendant, victim, witness, and other participants of the proceedings by means of violence, threats, violation of their rights, and other illegal treatment shall be prohibited.

All circumstances subject to proof shall undergo thorough, comprehensive, full, and impartial examination. During investigation and trial, all issues shall be resolved by establishment and consideration of all the circumstances, both incriminating and justifying, as well as mitigating and aggravating.

A suspect, accused, or defendant shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty of a crime in accordance with the procedure envisaged by law and ascertained by a court sentence that has taken legal effect.

It shall not be the obligation of a suspect, accused, or defendant to prove his innocence.

All doubts about the guilt, if possibilities to remove them have been exhausted, shall be resolved in favor of the suspect, accused, or defendant. All doubts arising in the course of law enforcement shall be resolved in favor of a suspect, accused, or defendant as well.

A suspect, accused, and defendant shall have the right to defense.

It shall be the obligation of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, court to secure a suspect, accused, and defendant the right to defense by expounding him this right and taking measures to ensure that he has a real opportunity to use all means and ways provided by law to defend himself of the charge.

Proceedings in court of first instance and in higher courts shall be conducted on the basis of parties’ adversarial setting.

A prosecution, defense, and adjudication shall be separated from one another during proceedings, and may not be assigned to the same agency or official.

Proceedings in court of first instance shall be started only upon submission of an indictment or resolution on referring a case to the court for applying compulsory medical measures.

State and public accusers, defendant, legal representative of a juvenile defendant, defense counsel, public defender, as well as a victim, civic plaintiff, civic defendant, and representatives thereof, shall participate in proceedings as parties and enjoy equal rights to produce evidences, participate in their examination, file motions, express their opinion on any matter being significant for the correct resolution.

A court shall not act for the prosecution or the defense, and shall not represent their interests. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000).

The court, being objective and impartial, shall provide necessary conditions to the parties to perform their procedural obligations and enjoy their rights. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000)

When conducting criminal proceedings, an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court shall directly examine the evidences by: questioning suspects, accused, defendants, victims, and witnesses; hearing expert opinions; view of physical evidence; reading out official records and other documents. This rule may be exempted only in special cases envisaged by this Code.

A court shall adjudicate only on the basis of the evidences examined during a court session.

Participants of the proceedings and other persons, as well as representatives of the enterprises, institutions, and organizations interested in the proceedings, shall have the right to complain against the procedural actions or decisions of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, judge, and court, in accordance with this Code.

The convicted or acquitted person, his defense counsel, legal representative, as well as the victim, civic plaintiff, civic defendant, legal representatives thereof, have a right to complain, and the prosecutor have a right to file a protest, on the ruling (or finding) of the court of first instance to courts of appeal or cassation. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000).

Filing motions and complaints shall be allowed at any stage of the procedure. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000).

SECTION TWO. PARTICIPANTS IN CRIMINAL PROCEDINGS

CHAPTER 3. STATE AGENCIES AND OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR CONDUCTING CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Trial on criminal cases in the Republic of Uzbekistan shall be conducted by: the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karakalpakstan for Criminal Justice, the regional, Tashkent city and district (city) court on criminal cases, and military courts.

A court of first instance may render sentence and finding on a criminal case. The court of cassation shall examine criminal cases pursuant to complaints or protests against sentences or findings by courts of first instance that have not taken legal effect, and render findings. The court of supervision shall examine cases pursuant to protests against the sentences and findings that have taken legal effect, and render resolutions or findings. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000).

A court shall be empowered: to prepare a case for trial hearing; to examine the case and render sentence or another finding; to consider the case at the court of appeal, or cassation, or supervision; to request enforcement of the sentence. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000).

In addition to the aforementioned, higher courts, within their competence, shall supervise lower courts.

The criminal procedure shall be conducted by the judge and people’s assessors appointed or elected to the composition of the court.

A judge acting in one-judge proceeding or in multiple-member court shall have power envisaged by Article 29 of this Code. Besides, the judge shall participate in preparation of the case for the trial, preside at the court session, and have other rights and duties envisaged by this Code.

A secretary of court session shall be authorized by the presiding judge to file the case for the court session; to notify the participants about the time and venue thereof; to check the appearance of the participants in the court; to ascertain the reasons for the absence and report to the court thereof; to keep the records; to fulfill other requests of the presiding judge on the preparation and conduct of the court hearing.

A secretary is obliged to enter, thoroughly and properly, in the official record the actions and findings of the court, as well as the actions, statements, motions, testimonies of the participants.

The General Prosecutor of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the lower prosecutors shall conduct the oversight of the precise and uniform enforcement of the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan during inquiry and pretrial investigation.

During inquiry and pretrial investigation, a prosecutor shall timely rectify violations of law, notwithstanding the personality causing these violations.

A prosecutor shall perform his powers independently from any agencies and officials, being accountable to the law only and instructed by the General Prosecutor of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

A prosecutor, during inquiry and pretrial investigation, shall be authorized with powers envisaged by Articles 243, 382-388, 558 of this Code.

During court proceedings, the prosecutor shall have powers as envisaged by Article 409 of this Code.

Pretrial criminal investigation shall be conducted by investigators of prosecutor’s office, internal affairs agencies, and national security service.

An investigator shall be empowered to: initiate and discontinue the criminal case, or refuse its initiation; detain and interrogate a suspect; conduct investigation prescribed by this Code; prosecute a person as an accused and impose to him measures of restraint; give written orders to the inquiry agencies on detection and investigative actions on the case under his jurisdiction; require assistance from the inquiry agencies in conducting certain investigative actions.

The investigator shall render all resolutions concerning the course and conduct of the investigation independently, except when the sanction of the prosecutor is envisaged by law.

The investigator shall be entitled to present a case to a higher prosecutor with a written statement of his objections in the instance of a disagreement with the prosecutor’s decisions or instructions concerning prosecuting a person as a defendant, classification of the offense, and a scope of a charge, the imposition of detention as a measure of restraint, forwarding a case to court or the dismissal of a case, or remanding criminal cases with instructions to conduct additional investigation. A higher prosecutor shall either overturn the orders of a lower prosecutor or refer the case to another investigator. (As amended by the Law of 29.08.2001).

Written orders and resolutions of the investigator issued in accordance with the law on the cases under his jurisdiction shall be legally binding for all enterprises, institutions and organizations, officials, and individuals.

A head of investigation department, division, section, group, and his deputy shall supervise the timely conduct of clearance and prevention of crimes by subordinate investigators, and secure thoroughness and impartiality of pretrial investigation.

The head of the investigation department, division, section, group, and his deputy are empowered: to review case files, to instruct the investigator on pretrial investigation, prosecution of a person as a defendant, classification of the crime and a scope of a charge, course of the investigation and on certain investigative actions; to transfer the case from one investigator to another; to assign the case to one investigator or a group thereof; to participate in the pretrial investigation and to conduct it in person bearing the competence of the investigator.

Instructions of the head of the investigation department, division, section, group, and of his deputy regarding a criminal case shall be issued in writing and be binding.

Filing a complaint against such instructions with the prosecutor shall not suspend execution thereof, except in the cases provided by paragraph 3 of Article 36 of this Code.

The inquiry agencies shall be:

1. Militia (police);
2. Commanders of military units and formations, heads of military institutions and educational establishments – on cases involving crimes committed by their subordinate servicemen, as well as by reservists undergoing military trainings; on cases involving crimes committed by the personnel of the Military Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan during execution of their official functions or on the territory of the unit, formation, institution or educational establishment;
3. National security service – on cases under their legal jurisdiction;
4. Heads of the punishment enforcement system under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, heads of the penitentiary facilities, convict colonies, of the correction colonies, investigative isolation wards and prisons – on case involving crimes against the order of service committed by the personnel of these institutions, as well as on case involving other crimes committed on the territory of these institutions. (As amended by the Law of 27.12.1996)
5. Fire security agencies – on cases involving fires and violation of the fire prevention rules;
6. Border guard agencies – on cases involving the breach of the state border;
7. Captains of sea-going vessels during long trips;
8. Customs agencies, Tax and Currency Exchange Crime Control Department under the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its local branches – on cases involving violation of tax, customs and currency exchange laws respectively. (As amended by the Law of 29.08.2001 and the Law of 25.04.2003).

Heads of each inquiry agency specified in Article 38 of this Code, shall have a right to initiate criminal case, assume the proceedings, and undertake inquiry, or refer the case to a subordinate inquiry officer, or refuse the initiation thereof, or transfer the notification on investigative jurisdiction.

The inquiry officer, upon the charge and under the supervision of the head of the inquiry agency, shall conduct urgent investigative action to meet the objectives provided by Article 339 of this Code.

The inquiry officer shall fulfill commissions of the investigator on conducting special investigative and detective actions on the case under his conduct, and assist the investigator in the course of investigation.

The inquiry officer, when conducting inquiry or fulfilling commissions of the investigator, shall conduct investigative actions and render resolutions in accordance with the rules of the pretrial investigation. These rules shall be binding for the head of the inquiry agency acting as an inquiry officer.

Resolutions of the inquiry officer shall be approved by the head of inquiry agency. The written instructions of the head of the inquiry agency are binding for the inquiry officer, who is entitled to challenge them to the prosecutor shall be entitled to bring complaint against them with the prosecutor not suspending their execution.

The written instructions given by a prosecutor shall be binding upon the head of the inquiry agency and inquiry officer. In case of disagreement, the head of inquiry agency or the inquiry officer shall be entitled to bring complaint against the prosecutor’s instructions with a higher prosecutor without suspending their execution.

Public organizations and collectives, their boards and representatives may communicate an inquiry agency, investigator, prosecutor, and court on a crime committed or being prepared. They have a right to file a motion on, as follows: enforcement of surety of a public organization or collective as a measure of restraint for an accused or defendant; parole of a convicted, or on mitigation of punishment; alteration of the conditions of custodial control; exculpation, and other issues prescribed by this Code.

In case of serious and especially serious crimes, an inquiry officer and investigator in charge shall notify an employer, educational establishment, or neighborhood community of a person on prosecution him as a defendant, whereas the court shall inform them about time and venue of the court hearing.

Public organizations and communities may assign their representatives to participate in the court hearing as public accusers or public defenders.

Public accusers and defenders shall be elected by assembly of members of public association or employees of the enterprise, institution, and organization. The decision of the assembly shall be filed to the court.

Public organization and community may withdraw, at any moment, the assigned public accuser or defender, or replace him with another representative thereof.

At the court hearing, a public accuser shall be entitled to: review the case files, introduce evidence and participate in its examination, file motions, and present the case on the proof of the accusation. The public accuser has a right to drop an accusation.

Public accuser shall be obliged to: attend the court hearing, present the opinion of the public organization or community, and assist in establishment of the issue.

At the court hearing, a public defender shall be entitled to: review case files, introduce evidence and participate in examination thereof, file motions, and present a case on the circumstances justifying the defendant or mitigating his liability.

Public defender shall be obliged to: attend the court hearing, present an opinion of the public organization or collective to a court and contribute in establishment of circumstances granting relief to the defendant.

A person shall be recognized as an accused if in his regard, in the order envisaged by this Code, a ruling has been rendered to prosecute him as an accused.

An accused whose criminal case has been set for a trial shall be referred to as a defendant, whereas after the sentence he shall be referred to as a convicted or an acquitted person.

An accused shall have the right: to be informed of charges against him; to give testimony and provide explanations about the charge brought against him or on other circumstances of the case; to use his native language or to use the assistance of an interpreter/translator; to use assistance of a defense counsel and to have meetings with him in private; to enjoy the right to defend himself independently; to file motions and challenges; to introduce evidences; to participate, with the permission of the inquiry officer or investigator, in investigative actions; to get familiarized, upon completion of the pretrial investigation, with the whole criminal case file and to write out required information; to raise objections to dismissal of the criminal case by the investigator or the prosecutor, and demand court hearing; to participate in the hearings at courts of reconciliation, of first instance, and of appeal, and, with the discretion of the court, in the courts of review and of supervision; to bring complaints against actions and decisions of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the court; to get familiarized with the official records of the court session and to submit comments on them; to be informed of any protests, appeals, and cassation complaints on the case, and challenge them. The accused shall have a right to the last plea. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000 and by the Law of 29.08.2001).

An accused shall be obliged: to appear upon summons of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor and court; not to evade from participation at the pretrial investigation and court hearing; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses and by other illegal acts; to abide and satisfy the enforced restraint; not to impede enforcement of the resolutions of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and of the findings of the court on examination, obtaining samples for the expert examination, hospitalization for forensic medical examination, and the other procedural rulings envisaged by this Code; to obey to the order during the investigation of the case and the court hearing.

An accused may be imposed to give testimony, as well as to prove his innocence or other circumstance of the case.

A person shall be recognized a suspect if the evidences that he has committed a crime are not sufficient for prosecution him as a defendant. An inquiry officer, investigator or the prosecutor shall issue a resolution on prosecution the person as a suspect.

A suspect shall have the right: to be informed what he is suspected of; to demand to be questioned no later than twenty four hours from the moment of the apprehension; to give testimony regarding the suspicion against him or other circumstances of the case; to use his native language or to use the assistance of an interpreter/translator; to have assistance of a defense counsel from the moment of declaring him the resolution on prosecution him as a suspect, or after the apprehension; to have meeting with the counsel confidentially; to enjoy the right to defend independently; to file motions and challenges; to participate in the hearings in court of reconciliation; to bring complaints against actions and decisions of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court. (As amended by the Law of 15.04.1999 and of 29.08.2001).

A suspect shall be obliged: to appear upon the summons of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court; not to evade from participation in pretrial investigation and court hearing; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses, and by other illegal acts; not to impede enforcement of the resolution of the inquiry officer, investigator, and prosecutor on examination, obtaining samples for expert examination, hospitalization for forensic medical examination, and the other rulings envisaged by this Code; to obey the order during investigation of the case.

A suspect cannot be imposed to give testimony, as well as to prove his non-implication or any other circumstance of the case.

A defense counsel shall be a person entitled, in the order envisaged by law, to provide defense of the rights and legitimate interests of a suspect, accused, or defendant, and render legal assistance to them.

The following persons may assist as defense counsels: lawyers, or persons duly authorized to assist as the defense counsels, or representatives of public associations in cases involving their members. Immediate relatives or legal representatives of the suspect, accused, or defendant, as well as other persons concerned may counsel for the defendant with an approval of the investigator or a finding of the court. (As amended by the Law of 30.08.1997 )

Defense counsel may participate in the case from the moment of apprehension of the individual, or announcement of the recognition him as a suspect, or detention. (As amended by Law of 15.04.1999).

A defense counsel shall be retained by a suspect, accused, or defendant, his legal representative and by other persons upon the instructions of or subject to the consent of a suspect, accused, or defendant.

At a request from a suspect, accused, or defendant, the participation of a defense counsel shall be secured by the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court.

If a defense counsel retained fails to appear within twenty-four hours, the inquiry officer, investigator, public accuser, or the court shall suggest that the suspect, accused, defendant, or their relatives retain another defense counsel, or shall address a bar chamber, board, or law firm with the request to appoint a defense counsel. A defense counsel retained by a suspect, accused, or defendant may be admitted at any time. (As amended by the Law of 30.08.1997).

An inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the court may relieve a suspect, accused, or defendant, partly or fully, from expenses for defense. In this event, the expenses for the defense counsel are covered by the State in the procedure established by the Cabinet of Ministers.

participation of a defense counsel in criminal proceedings shall be mandatory, if the cases engage, as follows:

(1) juveniles;

(2) dumb, deaf, blind, or persons having other mental or physical defects and therefore incapable to exercise his right to defense on his own;

(3) persons having no command of the language in which the proceedings are conducted;

(4) persons suspected or accused in the capital crime;

(5) persons, who have contradicting interests, if one of them is being assisted by a defense counsel;

(6) participation of a state or public accuser;

(7) participation of a lawyer as a representative of a victim;

(8) compulsory medical measures.

An inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court may recognize engagement of defense counsel as mandatory in the cases not specified above, if complexity of the case or other circumstances may impede the right of the suspect, accused or defendant to defense.

When, in the cases envisaged by the this Article, a defense counsel has not been retained by the suspect, accused or defendant, or with their request or their consent by other persons, the head a bar chamber, board, or law firm shall, upon the requirement of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the court, shall appoint the defense counsel to participate in the inquiry, pretrial investigation or in the court hearing of the case. (As amended by the Law of 30.08.1997).

A suspect or defendant may waive a defense counsel at any moment of proceedings in the criminal case. Such waiver shall be permitted only upon the initiative of the suspect, defendant or accused and only in case of factual availability of the defense counsel provided, through the invitation of a lawyer, by the inquiry officer, investigator, or the court. The waiver shall be entered into special record signed by the suspect, defendant or accused, as well as by the lawyer, inquiry officer, or investigator, or shall be entered into the record of trial.

A waiver of defense counsel shall not be binding upon the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court in the instances envisaged by Article 51, paragraph 1 subparagraphs 1, 4 and 8, of this Code.

A waiver of defense counsel shall not deprive the suspect or defendant of the right to file a motion later to admit a defense counsel to participate in the proceedings in the criminal case. Such a motion shall be satisfied mandatory. The motion for assistance of defense counsel filed during the court hearing shall be decided by the court by consideration of the circumstances of the case and requirement to ensure the right to defense. Admission of a defense counsel shall not cause repetition of the court hearing.

A defense counsel shall have the right: to be informed of charge against the defendant; to obtain a written admittance to participate in the case from the inquiry, pretrial investigation agencies and the court; to participate in the questioning of the suspect, to be present during announcement of charges against him and to participate in the interrogations of the defendant, as well as in other investigative actions involving the accused or defendant, and to question the suspect, defendant, witnesses, experts, specialists; to participate, upon the permission of the inquiry officer or the investigator, in other investigative actions; to submit written comments about the conduct of the investigating action wherein he participated; to file motions and challenges; to introduce evidences; to inquire from the state agencies, self-governing bodies, enterprises, institutions, organizations and public associations the references, character evidences, and other documents required for defense; to get familiarized with the official record of the procedures conducted with participation of the suspect or the defendant, and, upon completion of the inquiry or the pretrial investigation, to get familiarized with the whole criminal case file and write out required information thereof; to get familiarized, under the legally established procedure, with the state, commercial and other secrets, if it is required for defense; to participate as a party in the court hearing; to bring complaints against actions and decisions of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court; to get familiarized with the official records of court session and to submit comments thereon; to be informed of any protests and complaints on the case, and challenge them; to participate in the hearings at courts of first instance, of appeal, review, and cassation. (As amended by the Law of 15.04.1999 and the Law of 14.12.2000).

If an accused or defendant is kept in custody, the defense counsel has a right to meet him confidentially without limitation of number of meetings and duration thereof.

The defense counsel may not disclose information obtained in connection with the defense.

The defense counsel shall be obliged: to use all legal means and instruments for establishment of the circumstances clearing of suspicion or the charges, or mitigating the liability, and to render required legal assistance to the suspect, accused, and defendant; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses and by other illegal acts; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

The lawyer may not, from the moment of retaining or appointing for participation in the case, refuse to fulfill the obligations of the defense counsel.

When there are evidences of a moral, physical or pecuniary damage caused to a person by a crime or by a socially dangerous act committed by an insane, the person shall be recognized as a victim. The decision thereof shall be processed as a finding of the court or a resolution by a prosecutor, investigator, or inquiry officer.

If a victim is a juvenile or a person legally recognized as disable, he shall participate in the case together with his legal representative or be replaced by him.

The victim shall have a right: to give testimony; to introduce evidence; to file motions and challenges; to use his native language or to use the assistance of an interpreter/translator; to have a representative appearing for his interests; to participate, with the permission of the investigator or inquiry officer, in investigative actions; to get familiarized, upon inquiry or pretrial investigation, with the whole case file and write out required information thereof; to file notification of conciliation and to participate at the conciliation sessions, as well as of the court of the first instance, of appeal, cassation, and supervision; to complain against the procedure or decision of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, judge, and court; to prosecute in court, in person or through his representative; to get familiarized with the official records of court session and to submit comments on them; to be informed about any protests and complaints on the case, and challenge them. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000 and of 29.08.2001).

A victim shall be obliged: to appear upon the summons of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor and court; to give true testimony; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses and by other illegal acts; to introduce evidence on the request of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and the court; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

If a victim is fails to appear when summoned without a valid excuse, he may be subjected to compulsory appearance in accordance with Articles 261-264 of this Code.

If a victim refuses to testify or gives testimony known to be false, he shall be liable under the law.

In criminal cases of offenses that resulted in the victim’s death, the victim’s rights and obligations under this Article shall be passed to a victim’s immediate relative and other persons recognized by the pretrial investigation agencies or the court as legal representatives of the dead.

When there are evidences of a pecuniary damage caused by a crime, or by a socially dangerous act committed by an insane, to a person, enterprise, institution or agency, they shall be recognized as civil plaintiffs. The decision to recognize an entity, as a civil plaintiff, shall be processed as a finding rendered by a court or a resolution rendered by a prosecutor, investigator, or inquiry officer.

A civil suit in defense of the interests of juveniles and persons recognized legally incapacitated may be filed by their legal representatives or a prosecutor.

A civil plaintiff has a right: to bring and sustain a civil suit; to introduce evidence; to give explanations on a civil suit; to have a representative appearing for his interests; to file motions and challenges; to request the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the court to secure the suit; to get familiarized, upon pretrial investigation, with the whole case file and write out required information thereof; as well as of the court of the first instance, of appeal, cassation, and supervision to participate in the hearings of a court of the first instance, of appeal, cassation, and supervision; to complain against the procedure or decision of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, judge, and court; to challenge the sentence and the finding of the court in the part relating to the civil suit; to be informed of protests and complaints on the case, and challenge them. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000 and of 29.08.2001).

A civil plaintiff shall be obliged: to appear upon summons of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court and to introduce, upon their request, the evidence relating to the civil suit; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses and by other illegal acts; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

The person recognized as the civil plaintiff shall be entitled to all rights and obligations of a victim.

A person, enterprise, institution, or agency, liable for the damage caused by an accused or by a criminally insane person, may be engaged in proceedings as a civil respondent. an inquiry officer, investigator, or prosecutor shall render a resolution to engage a physical or legal person as a civil respondent, and the court shall render a finding to that effect.

A civil plaintiff shall have a right: to know the nature of the charges and the civil suit; to raise objections to the suit; to give explanations on the suit; to have a representative appearing for his interests; to introduce evidence; to file motions and challenges; to get familiarized, upon pretrial investigation, with the whole case file and copy out required information thereof; to participate in the hearings of the court of the first, review, and supervisory instances; to complain against the procedure or decision of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court; to challenge the sentence and the finding of the court in the part relating to the civil suit; to be informed of any protests and complaints on the case, and to object them. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000).

A civil plaintiff shall be obliged: to appear upon summons of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court, and to introduce, upon their request, the evidence relating to the civil suit; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses and by other illegal acts; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

Legal representatives shall participate in the case to protect the rights and the legitimate interests of a suspect, accused, defendant, or victim, if they are juveniles or persons legally recognized as disable.

The following persons may participate in the case as legal representatives: parents, adoptive parents, guardians, or curators of a juvenile suspect, defendant, or victim, representatives of institutions and organizations that have charge of a juvenile or disabled participant of the procedure. Legal representatives of the suspect, accused, and defendant shall participate in the case together with the represented persons, whereas the representative of the victim shall participate together with, or instead of, the represented person.

an inquiry officer, investigator, or prosecutor, shall render a resolution to engage a physical or legal person as a legal representative, and the court shall render a finding to that effect. In case of the contradiction of the interests of the represented person and the legal representative, by the same resolution or finding the lawyer shall be appointed to participate in the case as a defense counsel for the represented person.

A legal representative shall have a right: to be informed of the summon of the represented person to the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor or the court; to participate, upon the consent of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the court, in questioning of this person; to have confidential meetings with the represented person in custody; to enjoy procedural rights of the represented person in accordance with this Code.

A legal representative shall be obliged: to appear upon the summons of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses and by other illegal acts; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

A legal representative may be questioned as a witness, as well as engaged into the case as the defense counsel, civil plaintiff or civil respondent. In these cases, the legal representative shall have the rights and obligations of the abovementioned participants of the legal proceedings.

The following persons may participate in the case as representatives of the victim, civil plaintiff, and civil respondent: lawyers; persons duly authorized to assist as defense counsels, immediate relatives, and other persons permitted to participate in the case upon the resolution of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor or upon the finding of the court.

A victim, civil plaintiff or civil respondent makes a contract of agency with the representative as a ground for his participation of in the case. The head of the legal entity may participate as its representative without a special authorization. By the head’s proxy, the personnel and the lawyers of the legal entity shall be recognized as its representatives.

A representative of the victim, civil plaintiff, or civil defendant shall participate in the case together with or instead of the represented person. The victim, civil plaintiff, and civil respondent may waive the representative at any stage of the proceedings or to choose another representative.

A representative of a victim, civil plaintiff, civil respondent shall enjoy the procedural rights as, respectively, the victim, civil plaintiff, and civil respondent. The representative may refuse to participate in the legal proceedings at any stage.

A representative shall be obliged: to appear for the rights and legitimate interests of a represented persons; to refrain from any malpractice; to appear upon summons of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court; not to impede establishment of the issue by destruction or forgery of evidences, by persuasion of witnesses, and by other illegal acts; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

An inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and judge shall be obliged to expound to a suspect, accused, defendant, civil plaintiff, as well as victim, civil plaintiff, civil respondent, and their representatives their rights, obligations and responsibility and to secure means to exercise those rights. The participants of the legal proceedings shall be explained therewith of their obligations and of the consequences of the default on the obligations.

Any person, who may be aware of any circumstance to be established on the case, may be summoned to testify as a witness.

The witness shall have a right: to testify in his native language, if he has no or poor command of the language of the interrogation, and to use thereby the assistance of the translator/interpreter; to challenge an interpreter who participates in questioning; to testify in handwriting; to get familiarized with the minutes of evidence and to amend it; to use written notes and documents during the interrogation; to protect his interest through bringing complaints with the resolutions of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the findings of the courts.

The witness shall obliged: to appear when summoned by the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and the court; to report veraciously everything what he knows on the case; to answer the questions; not to disclose the circumstances of the case without the permit of the interrogator; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

If a witness fails to appear without a valid excuse, he may be subjected to compulsory appearance as envisaged by Articles 261-264 of this Code.

For giving testimony known to be false or refusing to testify, a witness shall be liable under the law.

A forensic examiner shall be a person possessing special expertise necessary for forensic expert opinion.

A forensic examiner shall be summoned and a forensic examination shall be ordered and conducted in accordance with the procedure set by Articles 172-187 of this Code.

A forensic examiner shall have a right: to get familiarized with the materials of the criminal case pertaining to the matter of the forensic examination and to write out necessary information; to request additional materials needed for giving a forensic expert opinion; to refuse in writing to give a forensic expert opinion on questions that extend beyond the scope of special expertise or if the materials provided to him are insufficient for giving a forensic expert opinion; to participate, with the permission of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court, in the procedural actions and to put questions pertaining to the matter of the forensic examination; to participate in the court hearing on evidences related to the subject of the forensic examination and, upon the permit of the court, to question the persons; to examine physical evidence and documents; to give forensic expert opinions within the scope of his skills including forensic expert opinions on questions that have not been posed in the resolution or ruling to conduct the forensic examination but are relevant to the matter of the forensic expert examination; to provide conclusions and give testimonies in his native language if he has no or poor command of the language of the proceedings, and to be assisted in that case by a translator/interpreter; to bring complaints with actions and decisions of the inquiry, investigator, prosecutor, or the court.

A forensic examiner shall be obliged: to appear when summoned by an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor and the court; to file a forensic report; to give forensic testimony and to provide clarification of the forensic report, if necessary; not to disclose the circumstances of the case without the permit of the interrogator; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

If an examiner fails to appear without a valid excuse, he may be brought to liability envisaged by law.

For refusing or neglecting his duties, as well as for giving a forensic expert opinion known to be false, a forensic examiner shall be brought to liability envisaged by law.

An expert witness shall be summoned to provide assistance to the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and the court in discovering and securing of evidence by investigation and court proceeding. The following persons may be summoned as expert witnesses: medical professional, educator, and other persons possessing relevant expertise.

An expert witness can be summoned for maintenance of equipment (audio and video recorder, filming etc) during investigation and trial.

A procedure of summons and participation of the expert witness in investigation and trial shall be determined by articles 91, 92, 136-138, 146,147,149,151,156 and 193 of this Code.

An expert witness shall have a right: to be informed of the purpose for his summon; to refuse to participate in the proceedings if he lacks the relevant expertise; to get familiarized with the case file on the proceedings wherein he participated; to make statements and comments on the proceedings wherein he participated; to question the persons participating in investigation and trial, upon the permit of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor and the court; to bring complaints with actions and decisions of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court.

An expert witness shall be obliged: to appear when summoned by an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor and the court; to participate in the investigation and trial using the relevant equipment, skills, and expertise for discovering and securing evidence; to draw attention of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and the court to the circumstances important for the establishment of the issue; to give explanations on the activity he performs; to assist the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and the court in the identification of the causes and conditions of the crime, and of remedial measures to be taken; not to disclose the circumstances of the inquiry and pretrial investigation without the permit of the inquiry officer, investigator and prosecutor; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

An interpreter/translator may be summoned to the court, if:

1. a suspect, accused, defendant or victim, civil plaintiff, civil respondent or representatives thereof, as well as the witness, forensic examiner, or expert witness has no or poor command of the language of the proceedings, or is deaf or dumb;
2. it is required to translate a written text;

The provisions on an interpreter/translators are relevant to a summoned person proficient in signs of the deaf or dumb.

An interpreter/translator shall have the right: to put questions to participants in the criminal proceedings for clarification reasons; to get familiarized with the official record of the investigative action in which he has participated, as well as with the official record of the court session, and to make comments to be entered in the official record; renounce from the participation if he does not possess knowledge required for interpretation/translation; to bring complaints against actions and decisions of the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the court.

An interpreter/translator shall be obliged: to appear when summoned by the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and the court; to interpret/translate fully and accurately; to certify the translation by signing the official record of the investigative action or of the court session in which he participated, as well as the procedural documents delivered to the persons participating in the proceedings and translated into their native language or other language they have command of; not to disclose the circumstances of the pretrial and trial investigation without the permit of the interrogator; to obey the order during the investigation and the court hearing.

For providing interpretation/translation known to be false, an interpreter/translator shall be brought to liability envisaged by law.

An attesting witnesses shall be engaged by an inquiry officer, investigator or prosecutor in the cases envisaged by this Code to attest to the fact of an investigative action or another action, as well as of the course and results thereof.

For participation in the investigative action, at least two adult persons neutral to the outcome of the criminal case shall be engaged as attesting witnesses. Prior to the investigative action, the inquiry officer, investigator, or prosecutor shall expound to the attesting witnesses their rights and obligations.

An attesting witness shall have the rights: to participate in the investigative action; to make remarks and statements on the investigative action to be entered into the record; to get familiarized with the official record of the investigative action, in which he has participated; to bring complaints with actions and decisions of the inquiry, investigator, or prosecutor.

An attesting witness shall be obliged: to appear when summoned by the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor; to participate in the investigative action; to certify the fact of an investigative action or another action, as well as the course and results thereof, with his signature in the official record of investigative action; not to disclose the circumstances of the inquiry and pretrial investigation without the permit of the inquiry officer, investigator and prosecutor.

In case of failure to perform his obligations without valid excuse, the attesting witness shall be liable to responsibility prescribed by law.

An attesting witness may be questioned as a witness about the circumstances related to the investigative action he participated in. In this case, he shall have the rights and obligations envisaged by Article 66 of this Code.

A person summoned as a victim or his representative, witness, forensic examiner, expert witness, interpreter/translator, and attesting witness shall be paid a reimbursement in the amount of his regular salary, which has been lost for the time spent in connection with being summoned to an inquiry agency, investigator, prosecutor, or court. Unemployed persons shall be paid a reimbursement for being diverted from their regular activities. In addition, all the abovementioned persons shall have the right to get reimbursement for the costs related to the appearance in the venue of procedural actions.

A forensic examiner, interpreter and expert witness have the right for remuneration for performing their duties in the course of the proceedings in the criminal case, except when such duties have been performed as an official assignment.

Reimbursement of the expenses shall be performed under the procedure and in the amounts envisaged by the law.

The judge as well as the civil assessor, prosecutor, investigator, inquiry officer, and secretary of the court may not participate in the criminal proceeding and shall be challenged if:

1. he is participating or has previously participated in the same case as a victim, civil plaintiff, respondent, their legal representative, forensic examiner, expert witness, interpreter/translator, attesting witness, witness, and defense counsel;
2. he is a relative of an official conducting proceedings on the case or other persons listed in the subparagraph 1 of this paragraph;
3. other circumstances raise doubts about his objectivity and impartiality.

The judge may not participate in the trial if he has previously conducted the case as an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or secretary of the court.

The judge participated in the examination of the case at the court of first instance, the appellate court or the court of review, as well as in the course of supervision may not participate in the examination of the case after vacating of the sentence, finding (ruling) which was given with his participation. (As amended by the Law of 14.12.2000).

Previous participation in the case of the inquiry officer, investigator, and secretary of the court shall not be an obstacle for the repeated participation, respectively, in the course of examination, pretrial investigation, and keeping official records in the same case, if the case has been sent for additional investigation or for a new trial.

A public accuser, public defender, and other representatives of a public organization or a community shall not participate in the proceedings and be challenged under the circumstances envisaged by Article 76 of this Code.

A forensic examiner, expert witness, interpreter/translator or attesting witness shall not participate in the criminal proceedings and shall be challenged under the circumstances envisaged by Article 76 of this Code, as well as on account of subordinacy or other dependence from a person participating in the proceedings.

A forensic examiner, expert witness, interpreter/translator shall be challenged if their incompetence has been revealed, whereas attesting witnesses shall be challenged if they are officials of the Internal Affairs, national security, prosecutor’s office, justice or court agencies.

A person shall not participate in the proceedings as forensic examiner or expert witness if he has conducted audit or any other visitation caused the initiation of the criminal proceedings.

The person, who has participated in the case as an expert witness, may participate in future in the same case as a forensic examiner as well.

A defense counsel, representative of victim, civil plaintiff, or respondent may not participate in proceedings in a criminal case if:

1. he has previously participated in the case as a judge, people’s assessor, prosecutor, investigator, inquiry officer, secretary of the court, examiner, expert witness, interpreter/translator or attesting witness;
2. he is a relative of the judge, prosecutor, investigator, inquiry officer, or secretary of the court session, who has participated or is participating in the proceedings in the criminal case, or of a person whose interests are in conflict with the interests of the participant who has entered in a legal defense agreement with the person;
3. he is an acting judge, prosecutor, investigator, inquiry officer, except he is a legal representative of an incapable person or a representative of the agency of his regular employment, if this agency has identified him as a civil plaintiff or a civil defendant;
4. he is rendering or previously has rendered legal assistance to a person whose interests are in conflict with the interests of the suspect, accused or defendant he is defending, or of the victim, civil plaintiff or civil respondent he is representing.

Under the circumstances envisaged by Articles 76-79 of this Code, a judge, people’s assessor, prosecutor, investigator, inquiry officer, secretary of the court session, interpreter/translator, forensic examiner, expert witness, defense counsel, and representatives of a victim, civil plaintiff, or civil respondent shall be obliged to announce self-disqualification. In the instance they have not withdrawn from the proceedings, they may be challenged by the suspect, accused, defendant or his legal representative, the defense counsel, as well as by the public accuser, victim, civil plaintiff, civil respondent or their representatives.

A challenge may be filed by a prosecutor, investigator, and inquiry officer during the investigation, or by the court during the trail.

An application on challenge shall be properly grounded.

The challenged person may give his explanations prior to the consideration of the challenge.

A decision on a challenge of a judge shall be made in the absence of the challenged judge by the rest of the judges. The judge shall be considered disqualified by the vote equality. A decision on a challenge of majority of the judges or the entire court shall be made by a majority vote of that court in bank. A decision on a challenge of a judge who is examining a criminal case in a single-judge proceeding shall be made by that judge.

A decision on a challenge of a prosecutor shall be made by a higher prosecutor if the challenge is submitted in the course of pretrial proceedings in a criminal case, or by the court examining the case if the challenge is submitted in the course of trial proceedings.

A decision on a challenge of a representative of a public organization or community shall be made by the court examining the case.

A decision on a challenge of an investigator or inquiry officer shall be made by a prosecutor supervising over the pretrial investigation and inquiry.

A decision on a challenge of a forensic examiner, witness expert, interpreter/translator, defense counsel, and representatives of a victim, civil plaintiff, or civil respondent shall be made by a an inquiry officer and investigator if the challenge is submitted in the course of pretrial proceedings, or by the court examining the case if the challenge is submitted in the course of trial proceedings.

A decision on a challenge of an attesting witness shall be made by an inquiry officer or investigator.

A decision on a challenge filed during the investigation shall be made by an inquiry officer, investigator, and prosecutor within twenty-four hours. A decision on a challenge filed during the court session shall be made immediately within the same session.

Satisfaction or rejection of the challenge shall be stated in a resolution rendered by an inquiry officer, the investigator, and the prosecutor, and in a finding rendered by a court.

SECTION THREE. EVIDENCE AND CIRCUMSTANCES SUBJECT TO PROOF

CHAPTER 8. EVIDENCE

Evidence in a criminal case shall be any facts and data that provides a basis for an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or court to ascertain, in accordance with the procedure envisaged by law, whether a socially dangerous act took place, as well as the guilt of a person committed thereof, and other circumstances that are of significance for the case exist.

The following shall be admitted as evidence: testimony given by a witness, victim, suspect, accused, defendant; forensic expert opinion; physical evidence; audio and video records, as well as filming and photography; official records of investigative and judicial actions; other documents.

For referring a case to a court with a criminal charge and for giving a criminal sentence, the following shall be subject to proof:

1. an event of the crime; nature and extent of damage caused thereby; circumstances that characterize the personality of a victim;
2. time, place, mode, and other circumstances of the commission of the crime established by the Criminal Code; causal relationship between the offense committed and socially dangerous consequences that emerged;
3. the person’s culpability in the commission of a crime;
4. commitment of the crime with direct or indirect intent, or negligence, or criminal presumption; motives and aims of the crime;
5. circumstances that characterize the personality of the defendant.

The suspect, accused, defendant shall be acquitted and rehabilitated if, as follows:

1. the occurrence of offense, on which the case has been brought, the investigation and trial conducted, does not exist;
2. the constituent elements of an offense in the act are not available;
3. he is pure from the crime.

A criminal case shall be dismissed without establishment of culpability in commission of the offense pursuant to the following grounds:

1. a statutory deadline of criminal prosecution has expired;
2. as a result of a bill of amnesty;
3. the accused or defendant has died;
4. the same person has been sentenced with the same charge, and the sentence has taken legal effect;
5. availability of a finding (or ruling) rendered by the court which has taken legal effect in relation to the person on the same charge, or a resolution of a duly authorized official to deny initiation or to dismiss criminal case on the same charge;
6. unavailability of the victim’s complaint, if criminal case may not be initiated other than pursuant to his complaint, except for instances envisaged by Article 325 of this Code;
7. the person has not reached the age of criminal liability by the moment of committing an act punishable under the criminal law.

When the statute of limitations of criminal prosecution has expired or a bill of amnesty has been issued, or the accused, defendant has died after criminal proceedings had been instituted against such person, the proceedings may continue in the general order, if the accused, defendant or immediate relatives of the dead accused or defendant insist thereon. In such cases, the sentence shall be rendered without appointment of punishment.

The criminal case against the person, who got mentally abnormal upon commission of the crime and has become thereby unable to control and to direct his actions, shall be discontinued without establishment of culpability issue in accordance with Chapter 61 of this Code.

On conciliation between a victim and suspect, accused or defendant prosecuted under the circumstances envisaged by Article 66¹ of the Criminal Code, the criminal case may be discontinued by the court without establishment of culpability issue in accordance with Chapter 62 of this Code. (As amended by the Law of 29.08.2001).

The criminal case may be discontinued with consent of the person without establishment of his culpability if, as follows:

1. it is recognized that by the time of investigation or court examination of the case the act ceased to be socially dangerous or, due to a change in conditions, the person ceased to be socially dangerous;
2. a person committed a crime for the first time which does not pose a large social danger or is a juvenile offense, has compensated the damage caused by the crime, actively repented and cooperated in solution of the crime;
3. it is reasonable, taking into account the nature of the act and character of the person committed a juvenile offense for the first time, to send the case file to the commission on juvenile justice

Proof shall consist in collection, review, and evaluation of evidence for the purposes of ascertaining circumstances that matter for legal, well-founded, and fair resolution of the case.

Proof shall be carried out by an inquiry officer, investigator, procurator, and court.

A suspect, accused, defendant, victim, civil plaintiff, civil respondent, and their representatives shall be entitled to participate in proof.

Witnesses, forensic examiners, expert witnesses, interpreters/translators, attesting witnesses as well as other persons and officials, who enjoy the rights and bear obligations for collection, verification and assessment of evidence, as envisaged by this Code, shall be engaged to participate in proof.

Collection of evidence shall be carried out through the following pretrial and trial investigative acts: questioning of a suspect, accused, defendant, witness, victim, and forensic examiner; confrontation; identification; verification of testimony at the crime scene; seizure; search; viewing; physical examination; exhumation; experiments; obtaining samples for expert examination; conduct of expertise and visitation; impoundment of objects and documents; wiretapping.

Protection of rights and legal interests of individuals, enterprises, agencies, and organizations shall be provided during collection, verification, and evaluation of evidence.

Following shall be prohibited:

1. to carry out actions that endanger life or health of the persons or humiliate their honor and dignity;
2. to extract testimonies, explanations, opinions, experiments, as well as issue of documents, or objects by means of violence, threat, fraud, and other illegal acts;
3. to conduct investigative actions during night hours, i.e. from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m, except for the cases when this may be required to prevent a crime being prepared or committed, avert possible loss of evidence, or flee of a suspect, or simulate situation of the investigated event during the experiment.

The inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, judge, and other persons, except for doctors, participating in the case as forensic examiners or expert witnesses, may not be present at baring, in connection with investigative or forensic action, of a person of the opposite sex.

An inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and judge shall rigorously prevent disclosure of the information discovered during the pretrial and trial investigation on privacy of a suspect, accused, victim and other persons. For this purpose, the public presentation during the pretrial and trial investigative action, where such information may be discovered, shall be limited, and the attending persons shall be notified on the liability in case of disclosure.

The objects and documents seized during the pre-trail and trial investigative action shall be accurately described in the respective official records, whereas the owner of such documents or objects shall be provided with a copy of the record or abstract therefrom. The irrelevant objects and documents shall be immediately returned to the legitimate owner. The objects and documents that may not be kept by individuals shall be destroyed or transferred to the agencies and organizations entitled to safekeeping thereof.

Viewing, seizure, and other actions pertaining to the documents and objects that constitute state secrets may be conducted only upon the order of the inquiry officer or the investigator, authorized by the prosecutor or by the finding of the court.

Time, venue, and other conditions of such actions shall be coordinated by the prosecutor or the presiding judge with the head of the enterprise, agency or organization responsible for safekeeping of such documents or objects.

Only a person authorized to examine documents and objects constituting the state secret shall participate as a forensic examiner, witness expert, attesting witness for conducting the above actions.

Information and objects may be considered as evidence only upon registration thereof in official records of pretrial and trial investigative actions.

During inquiry and pretrial investigation, official records shall be kept by the inquiry officer and investigator, whereas in the court – by the presiding judge and secretary of the court session.

The following information is subject to entering into official records: personal data of the participants of pretrial or trial examination; rights and obligations expounding to them; time and venue, conditions, course and results of the investigative or legal action, description of material objects and trace thereof that may be relevant for the case; facts requested to be verified by the participants of the investigative or judicial action; testimony, explanations, comments on such actions; motions, complaints, challenges filed by them; facts of violation of order during investigative action or court examination as well as remedial measures taken.

The following methods may be used together with official records: audio and video recording, filming, taking pictures, molding, imprinting, mapping, scheming, and other forms for representing information. For assistance in application of the above methods of recording of evidence, an inquiry officer, investigator, and court may invite an expert witness.

An inquiry officer, investigator, court shall specify in the official record of, accordingly, the investigative action or the court session the methods applied for recording evidence with technical parameters of the apparatuses, devices, instruments, and materials.

Photographs, phonograms, videos, films, moulds, imprints, maps, schemes, and other presentations of the course and results of the pretrial or trial action shall be attached to the official record. Each attachment shall contain an explanatory note indicating the respective nomenclature, venue, and date of the investigative or judicial action. The note shall be certified with the signatures of the inquiry officer or the investigator and the attesting witnesses during the inquiry and pretrial investigation, whereas the presiding judge and the secretary of the court session certify it at the trial.

The participants of the investigative actions and the parties to the trial shall have the right to get familiarized with the official records of the course and results of such actions and to introduce therein additions and corrections.

As soon as the investigative action is completed, an inquiry officer or investigator shall provide the official record thereof to the participants for reading or, upon their request, shall read it aloud. By the same procedure, the presiding judge or, upon his authorization, the secretary of the court session shall familiarize the participants of the out-of-court action, as well as the parties, with the official record thereof.

Oral additions, corrections, comments, objections, motions, and complaints shall be entered in the official record, whereas those in writing shall be attached to the record. Erased or inserted words and other corrections shall be specified before the signatures at the end of the official record.

Upon getting familiarized with the official record of investigating action, the persons put their signatures at the bottom of each page and at the end of the record.

In case of refusal of a participant or another person to sign the official record of the investigative action, as envisaged by this Code, the inquiry officer or investigator shall make a respective entry in the official record and certify it with his signature.

In case of refusal to sign the official record of the court session, the respective entry shall be made in the official record and certified with the signatures of the presiding judge and the secretary of the court session.

The person refusing to sign the official record shall be given an opportunity to give an explanation for the refusal. The explanation shall be entered in the official record.

In case a participant of the investigative or judicial action is handicapped and therefore unable to sign the official record, the official record, upon his consent, shall be read aloud and signed by his defense counsel, representative, or any other entrusted individual, and the respective entry shall be made into the record.

Evidence underlying the solution of the case shall be subject to thorough, complete, comprehensive, and impartial review. The review shall be made by collection of additional evidence supporting or disproving the evidence reviewed.

An inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court shall evaluate evidence by their certainty based on thorough, comprehensive, complete and impartial investigation of all circumstances of the case and guided by law and their legal sense. Each piece of evidence shall be subject to evaluation as to relevance, admissibility and credibility.

Evidence shall be recognized as relevant, if it presents information on facts and objects that support, disprove or question findings on the circumstances relevant to the case.

Evidence shall be recognized as admissible if collected in accordance with the duly established procedure and meets the requirements under Articles 92-94 of this Code.

Evidence shall be recognized as credible if its review proves that it is true.

The totality of the evidence collected shall be recognized as sufficient for disposal of the criminal case if all relevant credible pieces of evidence, which indisputably establish the issue on each and all the circumstances subject to proof, have been collected.

An inquiry officer or investigator shall question witnesses, victims, suspects, and accused at the venue of inquiry, pretrial investigation, or location of the questioned person, whereas the court questions at the venue of the session.

A witness, victim, suspect, accused, and the defendant at large shall be summoned to an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and the court by a subpoena. The subpoena shall be sent by post or special delivery. The summons may also be conducted by telephone, cable, radiogram, or fax.

The summons shall indicate the person and the capacity, in which he is summoned, as well as the address of the venue and the official he shall meet, the date and hour of appearance and expounded liability for non-appearance without valid excuse.

A subpoena shall be served on the person summoned for questioning against a signed receipt. In the instance of temporary absence of the person being summoned for questioning, the subpoena shall be served on an adult member of his family residing with him, or shall be passed to the administration of the appropriate hostel, landlord or representative of the community body.

The persons detained at investigation ward, temporary detention ward, or penitentiaries shall be summoned via the administration of the institution.

Before questioning, an inquiry officer, investigator, and court shall identify the questioned person’s last name, first name and patronymic, date (year, month, date) and place of birth, residence and place of employment, position, occupation, background, marital status, previous convictions, if available, and shall compare these data with the information available in the criminal case file or personal file of the questioned, or shall ensure, by any other means, that the questioned is the person as named.

By the reasonable doubts thereabout, it shall be identified if the interrogated has command of the language of the proceedings and which language he can testify in. In the cases envisaged by Article 71 of this Code, an interpreter/translator shall be engaged and the questioning shall be postponed until his arrival.

Upon identification of the questioned, he shall be expounded the rights and obligations envisaged in this Code. A respective entry shall be made thereupon in the official record of the questioning or of the court session.

The questioned shall be suggested to account the circumstances on the case known to him. The questioned may be asked additional questions thereupon to supplement or clarify his testimony.

A question containing direct or indirect anticipation of the answer shall be recognized as leading. Posing of leading questions shall be prohibited.

In case the testimony involves figures or other information difficult to remember, the questioned may use documents or any other records in his possession or those attached to the case file.

The questioned may be allowed to read aloud documents and other records in his possession during the questioning.

An inquiry officer, investigator, and court may request the documents and other records from the questioned that he has used during the questioning and shall return or attach them to the case file thereupon.

The testimony from the previous questioning may be disclosed only after the current testimony has been heard, recorded and signed by the questioned in the instance:

1. of substantial contradictions between testimonies at the current and the previous questionings;
2. of refusal by the questioned to testify in court;
3. of court hearing in the absence of the questioned.

During questioning, the inquiry officer, investigator, and judges, as well as the parties to court examination, may produce objects and documents attached to the case file or being in disposal of the parties to the questioned and read out thereof.

The official record of interrogation or of the court session shall be entered with an accurate description of the object or the document produced, the part of the document read aloud and the person conducting thereof, the questions asked, and the evidence given by the questioned.

The course and results of questioning at the stage of inquiry and pretrial investigation shall be entered in the official record of questioning, whereas at trial they shall be entered in the official record of the court session.

Along with keeping official records, audio and video recording and filming may be used during the questioning.

Testimony of the questioned shall be recorded in the first person singular, and when possible, verbatim. Questions and answers shall be recorded in the order of being asked and answered during the questioning. All questions shall be entered in the official record, including those that were waived by the investigator, or those that the questioned refused to answer.

The official record shall be therewith entered with the disclosure of evidence previously given by the questioned, use of documents and other written materials by the questioned, production of objects and documents during the questioning, use of audio and video recording, and filming. The phonogram, videotape and the film shall be attached to the official record.

Upon the questioning, the official record shall be presented to the questioned for reading, or, upon his request, shall be read out by the inquiry officer or investigator.

The questioned may give handwritten evidence. The evidence shall be attached to the official record with an entry to that effect being made therein.

Prior to signing the official record, the questioned or a party at the court examination may ask to play back the sound recording, video recording, or film. In case of substantial contradictions between the recordings and the official record, the questioning shall be continued to establish the reasons.

Upon reading the official record, the questioned shall certify with his signature the accuracy of testimony recorded and his familiarization therewith. The signature shall be put at the end of the official record and, if the testimony is recorded onto several pages, every page shall be signed separately.

If an interpreter/translator participates in the questioning, he shall interpret to the questioned the transcript of his testimony in the official record and translate the handwritten testimony. The interpreter/translator shall sign the testimony records at the end of the official record and each page thereof separately as well as translation of the handwritten testimony of the questioned.

An overall duration of the questioning per day must not exceed eight hours excluding one-hour break for rest and meals.

Additional questioning may be conducted if, as follows:

1. the duration of questioning envisaged by Article 107 of this Code is insufficient for the questioned to give testimony on the circumstances of the case known to him;
2. the questioned expresses a wish to supplement or change the previously given testimony;
3. the questioned has been charged with a new or altered, or additional charges;
4. the prosecutor considers necessary to verify accuracy of the records of the testimony given by the person previously questioned by the investigator or the inquiry officer;
5. a new investigator, who has taken a brief, considers it necessary to verify the accuracy of the records of the testimony given by the person previously questioned by another investigator or the inquiry officer;
6. new substantial questions to the previously questioned have emerged;
7. the reserve people’s assessor, who has entered the case after the questioning of the person, demands a new questioning of the person.

Questioning of a suspect and accused shall be conducted in accordance with the rules envisaged in the Articles 96-108 of this Code and the following articles of this chapter.

During inquiry and pretrial investigation, the suspect or the accused person shall be questioned immediately or within twenty-four hours upon the apprehension, appearance for the questioning, detention, or reconduction.

The judge shall secure the defendant’s right to give testimony at any moment of the trial. If the defendant manifests his desire to give testimony in the course of any judicial action, the court shall provide him with the opportunity thereto upon the completion of the action.

Before questioning of a suspect and accused, the inquiry officer or the investigator shall conduct the actions envisaged in Articles 98-100 of this Code.

Thereupon, the inquiry officer or/and the investigator shall, as follows:

1. expound the procedural rights and obligations to an accused and a suspect as envisaged Articles 46-48 of this Code;
2. ensure participation of the defense counsel retained by the suspect or the accused, or any other defense counsel, if the suspect or the accused had no time or was unable to retain;
3. announce to the suspect the crime in commission of which he is suspected;
4. produce to the suspect the resolution on his engagement to the participation in the case as a suspect and explain the substance of the charges against him.

Before questioning, the inquiry officer or the investigator shall ask the defendant whether he admits his guilt or denies it in full or in part.

The conduct of actions listed in this article shall be entered by the inquiry officer or investigator in the official record of the questioning, whereas at trial they shall be entered in the official record of the court session.

Confession given by a suspect or accused may underlie the charge only if the confession is confirmed by totality of evidence.

Evidence based on the testimony given by the accused or the suspect as well as other evidence shall be reviewed and evaluated with respect to all circumstances of the case both in the instance of confession and denial of guilt by the accused.

Statement of voluntary surrender shall be a communication of a person, who has been neither suspected nor charged, about a crime that he committed.

The statement of voluntary surrender may be made both in written or oral form. Oral statement shall be entered in the official record by the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the court and include information on the personal data of the person, who makes a statement of surrender, and content of his statement made in the first person singular. The official record shall be signed by the person and the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, or the judge.

The statement of voluntary surrender shall be evaluated by the inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor, and court as envisaged by Article 112 of this Code.

A witness and a victim shall be questioned according to the general rules envisaged in Articles 96-108 of this Code and in the following articles of this Chapter.

The following persons shall not be questioned as witnesses or victims:

1. a judge or people’s assessor – concerning the circumstances of the discussion of the issues of sentencing and finding held in the retiring room;
2. a defense counsel as well as a legal representative of a victim, civil plaintiff, and civil respondent – concerning the circumstances that have become known to him in connection with the participation in proceedings;
3. a person unable to apprehend correctly the circumstances relevant to the case, due to his physical or mental defects.

Immediate relatives of the suspect, accused, and defendant may be questioned as witnesses or victims on the circumstances with respect to the suspect, and accused, only upon their consent.

Upon identification of personal data of the witness or the victim and expounding him his procedural rights and obligations, he shall be advised on criminal liability for refusal to testify or giving deliberately false evidence, with the respective entry made thereupon in the official record of the questioning or of the court session.

Immediate relatives of the suspected, accused, and defendant shall not be advised on criminal liability for giving deliberately false evidence.

The witness or the victim may not refuse to testify on the grounds that the circumstances questioned by the inquiry officer, investigator, or the court are related to the state or trade secrets, or to the intimacy of the suspect, accused, defendant, or other persons.

If the inquiry officer, the investigator or the court believe that the facts to be clarified may reveal state or trade secrets, or relate to the intimacy of the person, they shall act in a way to prevent disclosure of such facts.

Upon cautioning the witness and the victim on liability for violation of procedural obligations, the victim shall answer the questions concerning his relations with the suspect, the accused, defendant, the civil plaintiff, and the civil defendant; whereas the witness – concerning his relations with the victim. Thereafter, by the invitation of the inquiry officer, the witness or the victim shall disclose everything known to him on the case. They may give evidence on any circumstances that are or may be of significance to the case, including those on the personality of the suspect, accused, defendant, or other participants of the proceedings.

If the witness or the victim being present at the site of investigation or in court manifests wish to testify, he shall be questioned within the same day or not later than the following day.

If the request of the witness or the victim to testify arrived to the court or investigator’s office by post, the sender shall be promptly notified on the time and venue of questioning and shall be questioned immediately upon his arrival.

Examining of a victim or witness under sixteen years of age shall be conducted with participation of his legal representative or an adult immediate relative, an educator, or a representative of the victim upon their consent. The persons mentioned may ask questions to the witness or the victim with approval of the inquiry officer.

Victims or witnesses under sixteen years of age shall not be advised of liability for refusal to give testimony or for giving testimony known to be false, but an inquiry officer, investigator, or presiding judge shall advise such witnesses and victims, while expounding their procedural rights and obligations, on the moral duties to give true evidence and assist thereby in establishing the issue on the criminal case.

Confrontation shall be conducted in the instances of substantial contradictions in the testimony of two previously questioned persons in order to find the reasons for such contradictions.

By confrontation, a suspect, accused, defendant, victim, and witness may be questioned.

Confrontation shall be conducted in accordance with general procedure of questioning envisaged by Articles 96-108 of this Code as well as by the following rules of this chapter.

At the beginning of confrontation the inquiry officer, investigator or the presiding judge shall ask each of the questioned alternatively whether they know each other, and what is the relationship between them, and listen to their answers. Then the participants shall be alternately suggested to give testimony regarding the circumstances that caused contradiction. If contradictions concern several episodes or circumstances, they may be asked, after confronting on one episode or circumstance, about the next episode or circumstance.

With the permission of the inquiry officer, investigator, or the presiding judge, persons participating in the confrontation may pose questions to each other. During the court session, both participants may be asked questions from the people’s assessors and the parties. The inquiry officer, investigator, and the presiding judge may overrule the questions insignificant for the case or irrelevant to the contradiction examined at the confrontation.

Reading out the testimony of the participants in confrontation, contained in the official records of previous questioning, as well as playback of phonograph of such testimony shall be permitted only after giving testimony by the said persons have been entered in the official record of confrontation.

Identification shall be conducted to verify the testimony by a witness, victim, suspect, accused, or defendant on a person or an object when it is required to:

1. establish if this testimony is related to the specific person or object;
2. identify the person or the object described in the testimony amongst a number of persons or objects known to the inquiry officer, investigator, or the court.

An identifier shall be questioned beforehand regarding special features, description or peculiarities of the person or the object to be identified.

A person shall be presented for identification together with other persons looking as similar as possible to the person being identified and not participating in the investigated case, in the presence of attesting witnesses. A total number of persons presented for identification shall be not less than three.

Before conducting the identification, the identified person is offered to take any place among the persons presented.

The identified person shall not be clearly distinguished from the other persons presented by his clothes, haircut, or other signs.

When it is impossible to present a person or for the reasons of his safety, the identification may be conducted by his photograph.

At least three photographs shall be presented durably affixed on a table, sealed, and numerated, without names and surnames of persons photographed.

Objects, fractions of objects and animals that may be delivered to the investigation site, court, or any other location shall be presented for identification among other similar objects irrelevant to the case.

A similar object shall be an object, not distinguished from the object described in the testimony by its appearance, features, peculiarities indicated by the identifier during the questioning. The location of the presented objects shall be determined by the inquiry officer, investigator in the presence of attesting witnesses.

The procedures for identification among similar objects shall not be applied to the identification of a corpse.

In case a victim, the witness, suspect, accused or the defendant mentions and describes a site, building, a room in a building or any other immovable object, but cannot define or indicate precisely the location thereof and is willing to show the way to the site from the known starting point, he shall be allowed to show the object.

The inquiry officer, or the investigator and attesting witnesses, or the banc and the parties along with the identifier shall arrive to the starting point indicated by the identifier. From the starting point the participants of presentation for identification shall follow the identifier. Measures to prevent pointing the route to the identifier by other participants or other persons shall be taken.

Upon presentation of the group of persons or several objects for identification, the identifier shall be suggested to point at the person or the object previously indicated in testimony.

If the identifier pointed at one of the persons presented to him, or at one of the objects, it shall be suggested to explain by what features or peculiarities he identified these person or object.

In case the identifier states that he has not seen any persons or objects before, he shall be suggested to explain what the object or the person presented differs in from those presented.

Presentation for identification during inquiry or pretrial investigation shall be entered in the official record. Presentation for identification at court examination shall be entered in the official record of the court session.

Both records shall be entered with, as follows: data on identifier, conditions, course and results of identification, persons presented for identification, their age, height, ethnic origin, residence, visible peculiarities, clothes; description of objects presented for identification; in case of an undeliverable objects – description of the route directed by the identifier and the route from the starting point to the object.

In case photographs have been presented for identification, the official record shall be attached with a photo-table.

Testimony of the identifier and the questions of the inquiry officer, investigator, court, parties, and other persons, as well as his answers, shall be entered in the official record in accordance with the rules envisaged in Article 106 of this Code.

An inquiry officer, investigator, and court may verify the testimony given by a suspect, accused, defendant, witness, and victim by on-site reconstitution thereof.

On-site verification of testimony shall be conducted to: discover objects, documents, traces, signs, location of which is known to the person whose testimony is verified, but is unknown to the inquiry officer, investigator, and the court; indicate the site or the route in question for identifying similarities or differences in the testimony given by several persons on the same facts; verify the credibility of the testimony by reproduction thereof and comparison with the crime situation.

The person, whose testimony is verified, shall give on-site explanations with demonstration, examination, and seizure of objects, documents, and signs, or with reproduction of actions, or specify his previous testimony.

Results of on-site verification of testimony of the suspect, accused, and defendant shall be considered evidence if their knowledge on the specific circumstances cannot be explained other than by their culpability.

On-site verification of testimony shall be conducted by the inquiry officer or the investigator with participation of attesting witnesses, and by court with participation of the parties. Forensic examiner and witness expert may participate in on-site verification of testimony as well.

An inquiry officer, investigator, or court shall read out the testimony to be verified in the presence of the parties and other participants of the investigative action and ask the person, whose testimony is being verified, if it is correct or must be changed, or supplemented, and explain the purpose and procedure of verification. The witness or the victim, whose testimony is verified, except for those under age of sixteen, shall be advised on the criminal liability for refusal to testify or giving testimony known to be false.

Simultaneous on-site verification of testimony of several persons shall be prohibited.

During on-site verification the person, who gave the testimony, may, as follows: reconstitute the situation and circumstances of the event; search and indicate any objects, documents, and signs related to the case; demonstrate specific actions; indicate the instrumentality of objects detected at commission of the crime; draw attention to changes in on-site situation; specify and correct his previous testimony. An outside interference, prompting and leading questions shall be prohibited.

Questions may be asked to the person, whose testimony is being verified, after his free account and demonstration of actions. The persons participating in the on-site verification of testimony may draw attention of the inquiry officer, investigator, and the court to any circumstances that are believed to contribute to establishment of the issue as well as demand repetition of actions. The person, whose testimony is being verified, as well as other participants may demand additional questioning in connection with the investigative action.

Upon the on-site verification of the testimony, the inquiry officer or the investigator shall make the official record, whereas the court shall enter the course and results of the verification in the official record of the court session, in accordance with the rules envisaged in Article 90-92 of this Code.

The following shall be entered in the official record: the location, time, and conditions of the verification; the objects and sites examined; on-site testimony; the course of reconstitution; emendations by the persons into his previous testimonies.

For discovering of traces of a crime, physical evidence, establishment of situation of an event or other circumstances, important for the case, the inquiry officer, the investigator, or the court shall conduct a view of locality, corpse, animals, surroundings, premises, objects, and documents.

View of a human body shall be conducted according to the rules of physical and expert examination (Articles 142-147 and 172-187 of this Code). View of mail shall be performed as envisaged in Article 167 of this Code.

Objects and documents discovered by seizure or search shall be viewed according to the rules established for the conduct of such investigative actions.

View during interrogation and pretrial investigation shall be conducted with participation of attesting witnesses. In case of necessity of view during trial, the court shall render a respective finding and conduct the view with participation of the parties.

If necessary, an inquiry officer, investigator, or the court, in case of necessity, may make measurements, photographing, filming, video recording, mapping, charting, sketching, casting, and imprinting of traces. To assist therein, a forensic examiner may be engaged.

All objects discovered and seized during the view must be presented to the attesting witnesses and other participants of the view.

Persons participating in the view may draw attention of the inquiry officer, investigator and the court to any circumstances that are believed to contribute to establishment of the issue.

View of a locale shall be conducted only if there exists evidence that the locale is the site of crime or contains signs thereof.

In the instances that brook no delay, the view of the locale may be conducted before the initiation of criminal case. In this case, resolution of a criminal case or waiver thereof shall be issued not later than within seventy-two hours, whereas in extraordinary cases within ten days upon the view.

View of large territories and premises may be performed by several inquiry officers or investigators, whereas each of them shall act with participation of at least two attesting witnesses.

Objects, documents, and traces collected thereby shall be packed and sealed. Large objects, which can be neither seized nor sealed, shall be duly secured by the measures to be taken by the inquiry officer or the investigator.

An investigator shall conduct a view of a corpse at the place where it was discovered in the presence of attesting witnesses, with participation of a forensic medical examiner, and when his participation is impossible – with participation of a doctor. If necessary, other examiners or expert witnesses may be engaged to view a corpse.

View of a corpse at exhumation shall be conducted as envisaged by Articles 148-152 of this Code.

View of a corpse at the site of discovery shall be conducted as envisaged by Articles 126-131 of this Code. Unidentified corpses shall be subject to mandatory fingerprinting. Other samples for examination may be obtained from a corpse in accordance with Articles 188-191, 193, and 197 of this Code.

Burial of an identified corpse shall be done only upon permission of the prosecutor.

The inquiry officer, investigator, and the court shall conduct the view of locality and premises in accordance with the following rules.

If necessary to examine a dwelling or an office, the inquiry officer or the investigator shall render a resolution, whereas the court shall render a finding. The person whose dwelling shall be subject of examination, or a representative administration of the appropriate enterprise, institution, and organization shall get familiarized with the resolution or finding and sign it thereupon.

Conducting view at enterprises, institutions, and organizations, shall be mandatory participated by a representative of the administration, at military units – by representative of the command, and in case of necessity – by a person accounting for property. View of premises shall be conducted as envisaged by Articles 160 and 161 of this Code.

An inquiry officer, investigator, and court shall conduct view of the objects and documents at the site of their discovery; in case the view requires longer time or application of additional technical facilities they shall view them thereupon at the site of inquiry, pretrial investigation or court session.

View may be conducted with application of technical facilities only if it does not damage or destroy the object or the document.

An inquiry officer or investigator shall execute an official record on the course of the view, whereas the court shall enter the results of the view in the official record of the court session, in accordance with the rules envisaged in Article 90-92 of this Code.

The official record shall be entered with descriptions of all discoveries made in the same consequence and in the same condition as during the view. All traces, objects, and documents discovered and seized during the view shall be enlisted in the official record. The owner of the seized objects shall be provided with an appropriate certificate or a copy of the official record.

the official record shall also refer to the time, weather and lighting conditions of the view or physical examination; technical facilities used and results obtained, objects seized and sealed, description of the seal, the agency where the corpse or the objects that are of significance for the criminal case were forwarded.

Physical examination shall be conducted in cases when it is necessary:

1. to discover special marks, traces of bodily injuries on a person’s body, information on physique, spots, scratches, grazes, bruises, or other properties and signs that are of significance for the criminal case, if a forensic expert examination is not required;
2. to ascertain the state of alcoholic intoxication and other physiological states by applying methods not requiring a forensic expert examination.

A suspect, accused person, defendant, or victim may be subject to physical examination. Physical examination of a witness shall be permitted only to verify his testimony.

If there sufficient information, that the body of the suspect, accused, defendant, or victim contains marks of the crime and other signs relevant to the case or that he is in an unusual physiological condition, an inquiry officer or investigator shall issue a resolution and the court shall render a finding on conducting a physical examination.

A resolution or finding shall specify: who and for what purpose shall conduct physical examination; who shall be examined; and to whom and when the person shall arrive for the examination.

Resolution rendered by inquiry officer, investigator, or a finding of a court on physical examination shall be binding for the persons concerned.

The persons evading from physical examination may be subject to forc