Questioning of persons - national proceedings

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia - Criminal Procedure Code 2010 EN

PART TWO COURSE OF PROCEDURE
Chapter XVIII INVESTIGATING ACTS
4. Examination of the accused

Article 210
(1) When the accused is questioned for the first time, he will be asked for his name, nickname if he has so, names of his parents, maiden name of his mother, his address, his date of birth, his nationality and citizenship, his occupation, his family status, type of education, has he served a military service, when and where, is he registered in the military register, if he was decorated, what is his property condition, if he has been where and why he was convicted, if he has or when he served the verdict, if there is a procedure for another crime against him, and if he is a minor who his legal representative is. The accused will be instructed that he is obliged to answer the summons and to announce each alternation of his address or intention to alter his residence immediately and he will be warned of the consequences if he does not act so. If the accused does not have permanent or temporary residence in Republic of Macedonia or when he is a foreigner, he will be acknowledged that is obliged within a period of eight days to determine an address or person in Republic of Macedonia for summoning of writs and decisions, and will be warned that in case the accused do not determine an address or a person for receiving the writs, the court will post the writ on the public court table and with the expiring of the term of eight days from the day of the posting, the summoning will be considered as completed.
(2) Afterwards the accused will be informed of his accusation and for the grounds of suspicion against him and he will be asked what he has to state in his defence and he will be informed that he is not obliged to speak for his defence nor answer the questions .
(3) The accused is examined orally. During the examination the accused may be allowed to use his own notes.
(4) During the examination the accused is to be allowed to continue his elaboration in order to clarify all circumstances which are impose on him and to state all facts which serve on behalf of his defence.
(5) When the accused has finished his statement, if necessary he will be asked questions in order the gaps to be supplemented and the oppositions or any unclearness in his statement to be eliminated .
(6) The examination must be conducted in the manner that the personality of the accused is fully respected.
(7) Against the accused must not be used force, threats or other similar means (Article 251, paragraph 2) in order to extort his statement or confession .
(8) The accused may be examined in absence of a counsel only if he has explicitly denied his right, and his defence is not compulsory or if within 24 hours from the moment he has been instructed of his right (Article 63, paragraph 2) he does not provide himself a counsel unless in case of a compulsory defence .
(9) If it has been proceeded contrary to the provisions of paragraphs 7 and 8 of this Article or if the statement of the accused under paragraph 8 of this Article for the presence of a counsel is not notified in the minutes, upon the statement of the accused a court decision cannot be based .

Article 211
(1) The questions for the accused are to be set clearly and explicitly for him to understand them fully. In the examination, it must not be approached as if the accused has confessed something which he has not, nor any questions may be set in the way that the answers are already contained in them. Deceit must not be used against the accused in order to extort his statement or confession.
(2) If the latter statements of the accused differ from the former ones, especially if the accused revokes his confession, he will be asked to state his reasons for the different statements i.e. why he revokes his confession .

Article 212
(1) The accused may be confronted with a witness or another accused if their statements disagree in respect of significant facts.
(2) The confronted accused will be examined separately for each circumstance in which their statements does not mutually agree and their answer will be included in the minutes.

Article 213
The objects which are in connection with the crime or serve as evidence will be shown to the accused for recognition after he has previously described them. If these objects cannot be brought on the very place, the accused may be escorted to the place where they are.

Article 214
(1) The statement of the accused is inserted in the minutes in a narrative form and the questions and answers will be inserted in the minutes only if it is necessary.
(2) It will be allowed the accused to pronounce his statement himself for the minutes.

Article 215
The court is obliged apart from the confession of the accused to collect other evidence. If the confession is clear and completed with evidence, the further collection of evidence will be undertaken only on the proposal of the prosecutor.

Article 216
(1) The examination of the accused will be performed by an assistance of an interpreter in cases proscribed in this Code.
(2) If the accused is deaf, he will receive his questions in writing, and if he is dumb, he will answer in writing. If the examination cannot be performed in this manner, a person who can communicate with the accused functioning as an interpreter will be called.
(3) If the interpreter is not under oath, he will take an oath that he will translate originally
and faithfully the questions directed to the accused and his statements.
(4) Provisions of this Code referring to the experts are accordingly applied to the interpreters .

Rome Statute

Article 93 Other forms of cooperation

1. States Parties shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Part and under procedures of national law, comply with requests by the Court to provide the following assistance in relation to investigations or prosecutions:

(c) The questioning of any person being investigated or prosecuted;