''Title IV, The accused, the defence, and jointly liable persons § 23a''

1) An accused who is unable to sufficiently communicate in the

language of the proceedings shall be entitled to translation assistance.

This shall be provided by providing an interpreter as far as this is

necessary in the interests of the administration of justice, in particular to

preserve the rights of defence of the accused. This shall apply in

particular to the instruction on rights (§ 23(4)), to acts of taking evidence

in which the accused takes part, and to hearings. At the accused's

request, he shall be provided with translation assistance also for his

contact with a defence counsel provided to him or during the

announcement of an application, an order, or a judicial ruling. The

accused shall be given translation assistance for the inspection of the files

only if he has no defence counsel and if it is unacceptable for the accused

for special reasons to ensure himself the translation of the relevant parts

of the files of which he has received copies.

2) If the accused is deaf or mute, an interpreter for sign language shall

be brought in if the accused is able to communicate in this language.

Otherwise, it shall be attempted to communicate with the accused in

writing or in any other suitable manner in which the accused is able to

make himself understood.

§ 23b2

1) The accused shall have the right to make suggestions to the

Prosecution Service for the judicial taking of evidence even during the

provisional inquiry. Such suggestions shall contain the facts in issue, the

evidence, and the information required for the taking of evidence. Unless

this is obvious, reasons shall be given why the evidence might be useful for

clarifying the facts in issue.

2) Evidence which is inadmissible, impossible, or which cannot be

used shall not be taken. Otherwise, any taking of evidence suggested by

the accused may only be refrained from if

1. the facts in issue are obvious or irrelevant for assessing the suspicion,

2. the evidence is not suitable for proving a material fact, or

3. the facts in issue can be considered proven.

1 § 23a inserted by LGBl. 2012 No. 26.

2 § 23b inserted by LGBl. 2012 No. 26.

Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) 312.0

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3) The submitting of applications in the investment proceedings shall

be subject to § 43; the investigating judge may reserve the taking of

evidence for the trial. This shall be inadmissible where the result of the

taking of evidence may be suitable to directly remove the suspicion or

where there is the danger that evidence for a material fact might be lost.

If the evidence is not taken, the court shall inform the accused of the

reasons for this.

''Title IV, § 264''
3. if the accused (defendant) is blind, deaf, mute, disabled in any other

way, or not sufficiently able to speak the court language, and

therefore unable to defend himself,

''Title X, § 116''

If a witness does not speak German, an interpreter shall be brought in

unless both the investigating judge and the keeper of the minutes speak

the foreign language. The witness's testimony shall only be recorded in

that language in the record or in exhibits if it is necessary to have a

verbatim record of the own expressions of the person examined (§ 48

(3)).

§ 117

If a witness is deaf, he shall be asked the questions in writing, and if

he is mute, he shall be asked to answer in writing. If one or the other

way of examination is impossible, the witness must be examined in the

presence of one or several persons who are in command of the witness's

sign language or who are otherwise able to communicate with deaf-mute

persons, and who shall be sworn as interpreters before.