The interrogation of the witness and the victim is a procedural conversation, during which the investigator finds out all the facts he is interested in about the circumstances of the atrocity committed, then records all the information in the protocol in order to use it further as evidence of the suspect's guilt. These persons are called to testify only by a summons, which must be transmitted to them personally or received by these citizens through the administration from the place of work or study.
Witness
They are called for an interview with the investigator only on the agenda, which indicates the reasons why a person should come, as well as the consequences of his failure to appear. A witness is a person who is aware of any circumstances of the crime being investigated. Before a citizen gives evidence, he must be warned of responsibility for false information.
Interrogation of witnesses can not last more than four consecutive hours, so you need to take an hour break. After which the investigator will be able to continue the conversation with the person. It should also be noted here that the survey of these persons cannot last more than eight hours a day.
Interrogation of witnesses can be carried out both in the presence of counsel and without his procedural assistance. In addition, persons under the age of sixteen should be interviewed only in the presence of their parents or teachers. The lawyer in this case can advise and help correctly answer the questions of the investigator.
Interrogation of witnesses who have not reached the age of fourteen years old must be carried out in the presence of a teacher. In addition, these persons are not warned of responsibility for false testimonies.
After the interrogation of witnesses is completed, they should carefully examine each page of the protocol, and then put their signature.
In a court
In this case, the interrogation of the witness will no longer be a conversation, because he will have to strictly answer the questions posed by several participants in the process. After that, these testimonies are recorded in the minutes of the hearing. Before a person begins to answer questions, he is warned of responsibility for false information. Then he signs this with the secretary.
The interrogation of a witness in court begins on the side of the process at the request of which he was invited to testify. As a rule, it is carried out after the victim has already answered all the questions of the lawyer and the prosecutor.
The interrogation of a witness in court should be conducted in such a way that other citizens arriving for this purpose do not hear his testimony. Therefore, they are called into the hall one at a time, and the rest are waiting in the hallway.
Petition
It can be useful both at the stage of preliminary investigation and in court to prove the innocence of the accused, or vice versa. However, it can be stated both orally and in writing. In the second case, such a request should be recorded in the minutes.
This application is completed as follows.
Name of the body _____________ (court or ATS)
position_________________
from counsel _______________
acting in the interests of _____________
Interrogation of a witness
In _________ (the name of the body) there is a case No. ____ on charges of a citizen ___________ of committing a crime _______ article of the Criminal Code. The circumstances that may be relevant to the investigation and the court in defense of the person __________ can be confirmed by witness __________. Please call him with a subpoena.
Lawyer __________ (number, signature).
In the event that, for any reason, the request for the examination of the witness is not satisfied by the official to whom it was intended, it is possible to appeal such a refusal through the court and other higher authorities.
Injured
In this case, an individual is recognized as a victim, who was inflicted physical and mental suffering from the crime committed against him. Based on the norms of the law, the investigator can only assume that the person was injured due to the intent of the suspect, and only the court is entitled to prove this fact. In addition, at any stage of the process, the injured citizen can file a claim for compensation for moral damage, while it is not necessary to wait for the end of the proceedings.
The victim is called for interrogation only by a summons, which indicates the date and time, as well as who he should be with the investigator. This document is handed to the person against receipt indicating the date of receipt. In the event that the victim was not at home, any adult member of his family can receive a summons. Also, this document can be transferred to the victim through the administration from the place of work or study.
If a citizen cannot, for good reason, come to the investigator, then it is necessary to inform about this in advance, otherwise he may be subjected to drive. The same rule applies to the person who is summoned for questioning as a witness in the case.
The need to conduct a procedural conversation with the victim is primarily related to the fact that the investigation should be able to rely on his testimony in the future and use it as evidence of the accused’s guilt. For the same purpose, a citizen is summoned for interrogation as a witness, who can explain something to law enforcement agencies about the committed crime.
Minors
The interrogation of a witness in a criminal case who has not reached the age of 18 years should be carried out only in the presence of a teacher. This is necessary so that the teenager does not experience strong nervous tension when communicating with the investigator. The same rule applies to minor victims. In this case, legal representatives may be present during interrogation.
In this process conversation has its own characteristics:
- Persons under the age of 16 cannot be held responsible for providing false information;
- Interviews in court may be held behind closed doors.
Order
Before the witness is questioned in the courtroom, the court removes everyone else from the process, and they are waiting for their call in the corridor. Joint testimony of all eyewitnesses in this case is prohibited. The only exceptions are those cases when the information reported by citizens invited to the court contains significant differences. Then they can have a confrontation and find out which of them is telling the truth.
Before conducting an interrogation of a witness in a criminal case at a meeting, the judge asks for an identity document, after which he checks the necessary information from his words. Then the citizen signs with the secretary for a warning about criminal liability for reporting in the process of false information.
After all the formalities have been followed, the examination of the witness begins. The CPC also states that the presiding judge must find out from the person in what relations he is with the defendant, whether the latter is his relative. Because in this case, a citizen can take advantage of Article 51 of the Constitution and refuse to testify.
The secretary must record all the information in the minutes. The parties to the process ask questions in turn, the prosecutor begins if the invited witness gives evidence in defense of the victim. Then the defender and the judge ask questions.
Protection Services
Each witness can use the services of an experienced defense attorney in order to testify more quickly and correctly, not to get confused with the questions of the investigator. That is why a person who first encounters so close with law enforcement agencies may be a little bewildered, in addition, he does not know how to behave during a procedural conversation, what questions the investigator needs to give correct and detailed answers about the circumstances of the crime.
When interrogating a witness, a lawyer enjoys all the rights of a defense counsel; he can advise his client and make written comments, which must be included in the protocol. In addition, with the permission of the investigator, he has the right to ask the citizen questions to clarify all the circumstances of the case under investigation.
The lawyer will explain to the witness his rights, including the duties that consist of giving true testimonies in the case, prepare him psychologically before interrogation.
In addition, the Code of Criminal Procedure expressly provides for the possibility of a defense counsel participating in a procedural conversation with eyewitnesses of the incident, unless, of course, they need his help. In practice, this happens quite rarely, because the services of a lawyer are quite expensive, and not every witness can afford them, especially if there is no special need.
A place
As a rule, a witness is summoned for questioning only by a summons and to that state body that conducts all investigative actions. Because the representative of the law enforcement system very rarely carries out a procedural conversation with people outside his office. During the interrogation, it is very important that no unauthorized persons are present at it, and it is also necessary to ensure that all the words spoken are recorded in the minutes.
After the investigator establishes the identity of the witness, he explains to him all the rights and obligations that are to give truthful explanations in the case only within the framework of the crime committed, and if necessary, use Art. 51 of the Constitution.
Questions are asked by the procedural person on their own, without other people present, if there are people in the office, they should go out during the interrogation. After following the end of the interrogation, he gives the completed protocol for reading to the witness, who gets acquainted with him puts his signature.
Time
Interrogation of a witness by an investigator cannot be more than four consecutive hours. After this, you need to take a break to rest and eat, then you can continue. In total, the interrogation cannot last more than eight hours a day. Therefore, if the case under investigation is large enough and requires clarification on individual points, the investigator must invite the witness by summons to testify on another day.
Tax call
Unfortunately, not only law enforcement officials can conduct a procedural conversation with witnesses in the case. The same rights are vested in the tax inspectorate. Moreover, this call procedure is not specified anywhere.
Here, only one thing is clear that the interrogation of a witness in the tax requires his personal presence. Therefore, a citizen who is invited to a procedural conversation by these bodies must arrive at the specified address and in due time to explain the necessary circumstances of the investigated offense.
In this case, the witness subpoena can be handed in person or sent by registered mail. At the same time, failure to appear at the specified time on a tax basis without good reason may be punished by a fine in the amount of one thousand rubles.
The witness interrogation process is carried out as follows:
- first, the citizen is explained his rights and obligations, while he can use Article 51 of the Constitution and refuse to testify, but only if he belongs to that category of persons specified in the law;
- the interrogation protocol is filled out by any official, and not just the inspector who constantly works with a certain company or organization;
- after filling out the documents indicating all the data and the place of the procedural conversation, the person is asked about the circumstances of the offense known to him, which should also be recorded on paper.
When the survey is completed, the citizen must check all the information presented and put his signature.
Who can be a witness
In this case, every citizen who knows anything about the crime committed has the full right to go to law enforcement agencies and report it. That is why a witness can only be a person who is not in family relations with the accused, and also has information that is crucial in the investigation of the case.
At the same time, it must be remembered that giving false testimony is punishable by law, therefore only truthful information must be reported. This rule does not apply to persons under the age of 16. But this does not mean at all that one can slander an innocent person.
The agenda
Each call of a citizen for questioning as a witness in the case must be duly executed. Otherwise, it will be illegal. At the same time, such absence will not have any consequences.
It is composed as follows:
Citizen _________________
Resident at _________________
The agenda
In accordance with Article 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, you must arrive at the investigator ________ of the Department of Internal Affairs ______________ to testify in criminal case No. ___________ as a witness.
You need to have a passport or another identity document with you.
In case of failure to appear within the specified period without good reason, you will be subjected to drive in accordance with Art. 113 Code of Criminal Procedure.
Investigator ___________ (date, signature).
The necessary conditions
As a rule, in practice they are rarely observed. Although, determining the time for the appearance of a witness or victim for a procedural conversation, it is necessary to consider the following points:
- it is best to call a witness at a time convenient for him to establish psychological contact with him, which will be important for fruitful work and quick disclosure of a crime;
- you should not invite a person when the investigator is very busy, so as not to make him wait a long time for interrogation in the corridor, he will get tired and will not be able to concentrate when answering the questions asked;
- Do not call eyewitnesses on the same day so that they cannot communicate with each other.
The first one is always to interview those people who are not interested in the outcome of the case and who can provide the most complete information about the facts that they know about the case. Also, the investigator should exclude the possibility of conspiracy of citizens with the accused, if he is at large under a recognizance not to leave.
Stages
The interrogation of witnesses and the victim includes several preparatory points. In other words, consists of three stages:
- preparatory;
- a free story about that. what happened;
- answers to the questions posed.
Before conducting a procedural conversation, the investigator should clarify all the information about the person, his age, place of work or study, education, after which he should state his rights and obligations. Communication should take place in a low voice. At the same time, the representative of law enforcement agencies should bring all the necessary information to the interrogated person as accurately as possible. Thus, having established psychological contact with him, which is an important condition for good work with the witness and the victim.
After a preliminary conversation with a citizen, you need to let him tell you about the known circumstances of the crime. At that moment, you should not ask him extra questions and correct in expressions. Otherwise, a person may shut himself in and give incomplete information on the case.
If the investigator arranged the person’s story, and he recorded everything in the protocol, then after that you can begin to ask the witness or the victim questions, the main thing is that they are not suggestive and do not independently reveal the version of the investigation. The testimonies obtained are subject to verification, therefore it is necessary to clarify all the data and the sources of their receipt.
Before asking the next question, the investigator should find out from the person whether he understands what he is being asked about. Because if a person does not understand the essence of the information brought to him, he will not be able to give correct answers. Also, do not rush the citizen with answers to the questions posed and provide an opportunity to remember and analyze all the events that happened.