CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE

PART I
ON THE GENERAL PART

TITLE V
ON PROOF

CHAPTER II
ON EVIDENCE

SECTION VII
INSPECTION OF A CRIME SCENE

Article 143
Object

Proof by means of inspection is intended for a direct perception of facts by the court or the authorities responsible for the investigation.

Article 144
Purpose of inspection

When deemed convenient, a court or a person conducting an investigation may, at his or her own discretion or at the request of the parties concerned, and with due regard, to the extent possible, for personal privacy, inspect items or persons in order to clarify any fact of relevance to the decision, and may, if deemed necessary, visit the crime scene or have the facts reconstructed.

Article 145
Intervention by the defendant or the aggrieved person

The defendant and the aggrieved person are notified of the date and time of the search and may, directly or through their counsels, provide the court with any clarifications it may need, or call the court’s attention to any facts deemed relevant to the settlement of the case.

Article 146
Intervention by experts

1. The court is allowed to be accompanied by a person qualified to explain the inspection and interpret the facts it intends to look at.

2. The expert shall be appointed in the decision ordering the inspection and shall attend the trial.

Article 147
Reporting an inspection

A report of the inspection containing all of the elements helpful in making an assessment and decision of the case is prepared, and pictures may be taken and attached thereto.

Article 148
Probative effect

The outcome of the inspection is assessed at the court’s discretion.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE

PART I
ON THE GENERAL PART

TITLE V
ON PROOF

CHAPTER III
ON THE MEANS OF OBTAINING PROOF

SECTION III
Checks

Article 174
Concept and prerequisites

1. Checks of persons, premises and items are used to examine any clues that may have been left behind in the course of committing a crime and that may indicate how and where it was committed, the person(s) who committed it or the person(s) upon whom it was inflicted.

2. As soon as a criminal offence is reported, action is to be taken in order to avoid, where feasible, the changing or effacing of clues before they are examined; and, if need be, the entry or movement of aliens into and across the crime scene, or any acts that might undermine the disclosure of the truth, may be prohibited.

3. Where the clues left behind by the perpetrator of a crime are found to have changed or effaced themselves, the state in which the persons, the premises and the items are found shall be described, seeking, where feasible, to reconstruct them and to describe how, when and why such clues have changed or effaced themselves.

4. Pending the arrival of the competent judicial authority in the crime scene, it is the responsibility of any law-enforcement agent to take the precautionary measures referred to in sub-article 174.2, where the obtaining of proof would otherwise be at immediate risk.

Article 175
Subjection to checks

1. Where a person wishes to refuse or obstruct any required check or refrains from handing over an item that is to be examined, he or she may be compelled to do so by a decision from the competent judicial authority.

2. A check that is likely to offend people’s sense of decency must respect the dignity and, to the extent possible, the sense of decency of the person undergoing it.

3. The check referred to in sub-article 175.2 may be attended only by the person conducting it and the competent judicial authority, and, where there is no danger posed by a delay in doing the check, the person to be checked may be accompanied by a person he or she trusts, and must be informed of the right to do so.

4. The check of a person is contingent upon authorisation from the competent judicial authority, except where the person concerned gives his or her consent.

Article 176
People at the crime scene

1. The competent judicial authority may determine that one or more persons do not leave the place where the check is to be conducted and, if need be, compel, with the assistance of a public force, those trying to leave the place, whose presence is required, to stay there for the duration of the check.

2. Sub-article 174.4 is correspondingly applicable.