Taking of evidence - national procedures for ICC proceedings

New Zealand

International Crimes and International Criminal Court Act 2000

PART 5 - DOMESTIC PROCEDURES FOR OTHER TYPES OF CO-OPERATION

Taking evidence and producing documents

83.
Taking evidence—

(1)If the Attorney-General gives authority for a request relating to the taking of evidence to proceed, the statement of each witness must be taken in writing on the oath or affirmation of that witness by a District Court Judge.

(2)The Judge who takes evidence under subsection (1), must—

(a)certify that the evidence was taken by the Judge; and

(b)ensure that the evidence, as certified, is sent to the Attorney-General.

Cf 1995 No 27 s 22

PART 5 - DOMESTIC PROCEDURES FOR OTHER TYPES OF CO-OPERATION

Taking evidence and producing documents

86.
ICC may give evidence certificate—

(1)In this section, ``evidence certificate'' means a certificate or declaration that—

(a)is given or made by or on behalf of the ICC; and

(b)specifies or declares whether, under the Statute or the Rules, a specified person or class of persons could or could not be required to answer a specified question or to produce a specified document—

(i)generally; or

(ii)in specified proceedings; or

(iii)in specified circumstances.

(2)An evidence certificate authenticated under subsection (3) is admissible in proceedings for the purposes of the application of section 85(4) as prima facie evidence of the matters stated in the certificate.

(3)A certificate is authenticated for the purposes of subsection (2) if it purports to be—

(a)signed or certified by a Judge, the Registrar, the Deputy Registrar, or a member of the staff of the ICC; or

(b)authenticated in any other manner authorised by the Statute or the Rules.

Cf 1995 No 27 s 27

PART 5 - DOMESTIC PROCEDURES FOR OTHER TYPES OF CO-OPERATION

Taking evidence and producing documents

87.
Certain persons may appear—

(1)The following persons may appear and be legally represented at a hearing held under section 83 or section 84:

(a)the person to whom the proceeding before the ICC or the investigation conducted by the Prosecutor relates:

(b)any other person giving evidence or producing documents or other articles at the hearing:

(c)a representative of the Prosecutor or ICC.

(2)Subsection (1) applies subject to any contrary provision of the Statute or the Rules.

(3)A certificate by a Judge under section 83(2) or section 84(2) must state whether any of the persons specified in subsection (1) were present when the evidence was taken or the documents or other articles were produced.

Cf 1992 No 86 s 34

International War Crimes Tribunals Act 1995

Part 1
Request by a Tribunal for assistance

4 Tribunal may request assistance

(3) without limiting the generality of subsection (1), a Tribunal may make a request for assistance of any 1 or more of the following types :

(a) arresting and surrendering to the Tribunal a person in relation to whom the Tribunal has issued an arrest warrant :
(b) executing a request for search and seizure:
(c) obtaining evidence or a document or other article:
(d) providing a document or other record:
(e) locating and identifying a witness or suspect:
(f) arranging for a person to give evidence or assist an in-vestigation:
(g) causing the forfeiture of tainted property:
(h) serving documents:
(i) arranging for the Tribunal to sit in New Zealand.

Part 3
Other forms of assistance to a Tribunal

Taking evidence, etc

21 Attorney-General may authorise taking of evidence

(1) This section applies where a Tribunal makes a request to the Attorney-General

(a) for evidence to be taken in New Zealand ; or
(b) for documents or other articles in New Zealand to be produced—

for the purposes of a proceeding before, or an investigation conducted by, the Tribunal.

(2) Subject to section 57, where the Attorney-General is satisfied—

(a) that the request relates to a Tribunal offence ; and
(b) that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the evidence can be taken or, as the case may be, the documents or other articles can be produced in New Zealand,—

the Attorney-General may authorise, in writing, assistance in accordance with section 22 and section 23.

22 Taking of evidence

(1) Where the Attorney-General authorises the taking of evidence under section 21, the evidence shall be taken on oath from each witness by a Judge.

(2) The Judge who takes evidence in accordance with subsection (1), shall—

(a) cause the evidence to be put in writing ; and
(b) certify that the evidence was taken by the Judge ; and
(c) cause the writing so certified to be sent to the Attorney-General.

23 Producing documents or other articles

(1) Where the Attorney-General authorises the production of documents or other articles, that production shall be required by the order of a Judge.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), if the documents or other articles are produced, the Judge shall send them to the Attorney-General together with a written statement certifying that they were pro-duced to the Judge.

(3) In the case of documents, the Judge may send to the Attorney-General copies of the documents certified by the Judge to be true copies.

24 Legal representation

The Judge conducting a proceeding under section 22 or section 23, or both, may permit—

(a) the person to whom the proceeding before, or investi¬gation conducted by, the Tribunal relates ; and
(b) any other person giving evidence or producing docu-ments or other articles at the proceeding before the Judge ; and
(c) the Tribunal—

to have legal representation at the proceeding before the Judge.

25 Form of certificate

A certificate by a Judge under section 22(2) or section 23(2)shall state whether, when the evidence was taken or the documents or other articles were produced, any of the following persons were present :

(a) the person to whom the proceeding before, or the in-vestigation conducted by, the Tribunal relates, or that person's legal representative (if any) :
(b) any other person giving evidence or producing documents or other articles, or that person's legal representative (if any).

26 Compellability of persons to attend

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the law of New Zealand with respect to compelling persons—

(a) to attend before a Judge ; and
(b) to give evidence, answer questions, and produce documents or other articles—
on the hearing of a charge against a person for an offence against the law of New Zealand shall apply, with necessary modifications, with respect to compelling persons for the purposes of sections 22 and 23.

(2) For the purposes of sections 22 and 23, the person to whom the proceeding before, or the investigation conducted by, the Tribunal relates, is competent but not compellable to give evidence.

(3) No person who is required, pursuant to section 22 or section 23, to give evidence, or to produce documents or other articles for the purposes of a proceeding before, or investigation conducted by, a Tribunal shall be required to give any evidence, or to produce any document or article, that the person could not be compelled to give or produce in the proceedings before, or investigation conducted by, the Tribunal.

(4) A person who is required, pursuant to section 22 or section 23, to give evidence or produce documents or other articles for the purposes of a proceeding before, or investigation conducted by, the Tribunal shall have the same privileges in relation to the answering of questions and the production of documents or articles as if the proceedings were pending in a New Zealand court or the investigation were being conducted in New Zealand, as the case may be.

27 Tribunal immunity certificates

(1) In this section, Tribunal immunity certificate means a cer-tificate or declaration that—

(a) is given or made by a Tribunal under the Statute of the Tribunal or under the rules adopted under the Statute of the Tribunal ; and

(b) specifies or declares that, under the Statute of the Tribunal or under the rules adopted under the Statute of the Tribunal, persons generally or a specified person could or could not
(i)either generally or in specified proceedings ; and
(ii) either generally or in specified circumstances —

be required to answer a specified question or to produce a specified document.

(2) A Tribunal immunity certificate, duly authenticated in accord¬ance with subsection (3), is admissible in proceedings for the purposes of the application of section 26(3) as prima facie evidence of the matters stated in the certificate.

(3) A certificate is duly authenticated for the purposes of subsection (2) if it purports to be signed or certified by a Judge, Registrar, or officer of the Tribunal.

28 Powers of Judge may be exercised by Registrar

(1) Any Judge may authorise a Registrar of the High Court to exercise the powers of a Judge under section 22 or section 23 in respect of any particular case.

(2) Any authorisation given under subsection (1) may be revoked at any time by any Judge.

(3) Where any matter in respect of which a Registrar has jurisdiction under any authorisation given under subsection (1) appears to the Registrar to be one of special difficulty, he or she may refer the matter to a Judge, who may dispose of the mat¬ter or may refer it back to the Registrar with such directions as the Judge thinks fit.

(4) Nothing in this section shall prevent the exercise, by any Judge, of any jurisdiction or powers conferred on any Registrar under this section.

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:

(b) The taking of evidence, including testimony under oath, and the production of evidence, including expert opinions and reports necessary to the Court;