Free Evaluation of Evidence and Legally Invalid Evidence
Article 17

(1) Courts and State Prosecutors shall appraise the existence or non-existence of facts on which to base their decisions at their discretion.

(2) Judgments may not be founded on evidence that have been obtained by violating human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution or by ratified international treaties or on evidence obtained by violating the criminal proceedings provisions as well as other evidence obtained therefrom, nor may such evidence be used in the proceedings.

8. Inspection of Photographs, Listening to Audio Recordings and Inspection of Audiovisual Recordings
Article 156

(1) Photographs or audio, or audiovisual recordings of evidentiary activities conducted in accordance with the present Code may be used as evidence and serve as grounds for making a judgment.

(3) Photographs or audio, i.e. audiovisual recordings which do not fall under photographs or audio, i.e. audiovisual recordings referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article may be used as evidence in criminal proceedings if they have been authenticated and if possibility of photo installation or video installation and other forms of falsification of photographs and recordings has been excluded and if they have been made with an implicit or express consent of the suspects or accused persons when their image or their voice are on the photograph or the recording.

Exceptions to the Immediate Presentation of Evidence
Article 356

(1) Except for cases specified in this Code, records containing the statements of witnesses, the co-defendants or already convicted participants in the criminal offence as well as records and other documents regarding expert witness findings and opinion may be read, if ordered so by the decision of the Panel, only in the following cases:

1) if the interrogated person has deceased, developed a disease of the mind or can not be found or if his/her appearance before the court is impossible or significantly complicated due to old age, illness or for other important reasons;
2) if the witnesses or expert witnesses refuse to testify at the main hearing without legal grounds;
3) if the parties consent to reading of the records of the previous hearing of the witnesses or the records of written findings and opinion of the expert witness;
4) if the accused person avails of the right to remain silent during the main hearing, the Panel can decide that the record of his/her statement given in the investigation be read and used as evidence at the main hearing only if the accused person was cautioned as prescribed by Article 100 paragraph 2 of the present Code during his/her examination in the investigation, but the judgment may not be founded solely on this evidence.

(2) Exceptionally, without the consent of the parties, but after their hearing, the Panel may decide that the minutes are read of the hearing of witnesses or expert witnesses in the earlier main hearing, which was held before the same President of the Panel, if a witness or expert witness in the earlier main hearing were heard with regard to all circumstances and if their new summoning would only delay criminal proceedings.

(3) In the case referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, an audio or audiovisual record of the examination shall always be reproduced if the examination was recorded in such a manner.

(4) Records of the previous examination given by persons granted exemption from the duty to testify (Article 109) may not be read if those persons have not been summoned to the main hearing at all or if, before the first examination at the main hearing, they have availed themselves of their right to refuse to testify. After the presentation of evidence, the Panel shall decide that such records be excluded from the files and be kept separately (Article 211). The Panel shall proceed in the same way with respect to other records and information referred to in Article 211 of the present Code if a decision on their exclusion has not been previously rendered. An interlocutory appeal may be filed against the ruling of the exclusion of the records. After the ruling becomes final, the excluded records and information shall be sealed in a separate cover and handed over to the investigating judge to keep them apart from other files and they may not be examined or used in the course of the proceedings. The exclusion of records and information must be performed before the file is submitted to the Higher Court upon an appeal filed against
the judgment.

(5) The reasons for reading the records shall be stated in the records of the main hearing, and in the course of reading, it shall be stated whether the witness or expert witness has taken an oath.

Part One
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Chapter I
BASIC RULES

Free Evaluation of Evidence and Legally Invalid Evidence

Article 17
(1) Courts and State Prosecutors shall appraise the existence or non-existence of facts on which to base their decisions at their discretion.

(2) Judgments may not be founded on evidence that have been obtained by violating human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution or by ratified international treaties or on evidence obtained by violating the criminal proceedings provisions as well as other evidence obtained therefrom, nor may such evidence be used in the proceedings.

Part Two
COURSE OF THE PROCEEDINGS

V THE MAIN HEARING AND JUDGMENT

Chapter XXII
THE MAIN HEARING

7. EVIDENTIARY PROCEDURE

Presentation of evidence

Article 346
(1) After the examination of the defendant, the proceedings shall be continued with the presentation of evidence.

(2) Presentation of evidence comprise all facts deemed by the Court to be important for a correct adjudication.

(3) The evidence shall be examined in the order determined by the Chair of the Panel. As a rule, the evidence proposed by the Prosecutor shall be presented first, and thereafter the evidence proposed by the defense, and at the end the evidence for which the Court by virtue of an office ordered to be presented. If the injured party who is present should testify in the capacity of a witness, his/her examination shall be carried out immediately after the examination of the defendant.

(4) Until the conclusion of the main hearing the parties and the injured party may propose that new facts be clarified and new evidence be obtained and they may repeat motions already rejected by the Chair of the Panel or the Panel.

(5) The Panel may decide to present the evidence that has not been proposed by a motion or if such a motion has been withdrawn.