Examination of witnesses - national proceedings

Guyana

Guyana - Criminal Law Procedure Act 1894 (2012) EN

PART II PROCEEDINGS BEFORE A MAGISTRATE
TITLE 4 – PROCEEDINGS ON APPEARANCE OF ACCUSED PERSON

64. (1) When an accused person is before a magistrate holding a preliminary inquiry, the magistrate shall take the evidence of the witnesses on the part of the prosecutor.

(2) The evidence of those witnesses shall be given in the presence of the accused person; and the accused person shall be entitled to cross-examine them.

(3) The evidence of each witness shall be taken down in writing in the form of a deposition, and as nearly as possible in the witness’s own words.

(4) The deposition shall, at some time before the accused person is called on for his defence, be read over to and signed by the witness and the magistrate; the accused person, the witness, and the magistrate being all present together at the time of the reading and signing.

(5) Any witness who refuses, without reasonable excuse, to sign his deposition may be committed by the magistrate holding the inquiry by a warrant to prison, there to be kept until after the trial, or until the witness signs his deposition before a magistrate:
Provided that, if the accused person is afterwards discharged, any magistrate may order the witness to be discharged.

(6) The signature of the magistrate shall be at the end of the deposition of each witness, in such a form as to show that it is meant to authenticate the deposition.

(7) Every magistrate holding a preliminary inquiry is hereby required to cause the depositions to be written in a legible hand, and on one side only of each sheet of paper on which they are written, and the paper shall be white, of ordinary foolscap size and of good quality, and shall have a margin of about two inches in width.

PART II PROCEEDINGS BEFORE A MAGISTRATE
TITLE 4 – PROCEEDINGS ON APPEARANCE OF ACCUSED PERSON

66. (1) After the proceedings required by the preceding section are completed, the magistrate shall ask the accused person if he wishes to call any witnesses.

(2) Every witness called by the accused person who testifies to any fact relevant to the case shall be heard, and his deposition shall be taken, signed, and authenticated in the same manner as the deposition of a witness for the prosecution.

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;