PART V - CO-OPERATION AND JUDICIAL ASSISTANCE

24. Examination of witnesses

(1) The Magistrate to whom a request has been forwarded in terms of section 22(4) shall cause the person whose evidence is required, to be summoned to appear before him to give evidence or to produce any book, document, or object.

(2) On the appearance of that person, the Magistrate shall administer an oath to him and take the evidence of that person.

(3) On completion of the examination of the witness, the Magistrate taking the evidence shall, as soon as possible, transmit to the Attorney-General the record

of the evidence certified by him to be correct, together with a certificate setting out the costs incurred in connection with the execution of the International Criminal Court’s request, including any extraordinary costs which have emanated from the execution of that request .

(4) Where the services of an interpreter were used at the examination of the witness, the interpreter shall certify that he has translated truthfully and to the best of his ability and that certificate shall accompany the documents referred to in subsection (3).

(5) The Attorney-General shall, on receipt of the documents referred to in subsections (3) and (4), submit them to the Registrar of the International Criminal Court, indicating which costs emanating from the execution of the request, in his opinion, should be borne by the International Criminal Court in terms of Article 100 of the Statute

PART V - CO-OPERATION AND JUDICIAL ASSISTANCE

29. Transfer of prisoner to give evidence or to assist in investigation

(1) Where the Attorney-General receives a request from the International Criminal Court or from its Prosecutor for the transfer of a prisoner in Mauritius into the custody of the International Criminal Court, for the purpose of giving evidence or assisting in an investigation, the Attorney-General shall transmit the request to the Commissioner of Prisons.
(2) Where the prisoner consents to the transfer, the Commissioner of Prisons may issue a warrant for the transfer of the prisoner into the custody of the International Criminal Court, in accordance with the arrangements made with the Registrar or the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
(3) Any period of imprisonment served in the custody of the International Criminal Court by a prisoner transferred under this section shall be regarded as a period of imprisonment served in Mauritius for the purposes of calculating the remaining term of imprisonment of that person.
(4) The Commissioner of Prisons shall, where it appears that the term of imprisonment of the transferred prisoner will expire while that prisoner is still in the custody of the International Criminal Court, inform the Registrar of the Court in writing of the date on which that term of imprisonment will expire.

PART III - FORMS OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

6. Procedure for an evidence-gathering order or a search warrant

(8) (a) Where a person refuses to answer a question or to produce a document or article pursuant to subsection (7)(b) or (c), the Central Authority shall notify the foreign State and request the foreign State to provide a written statement on whether the person’s refusal was well-founded under the law of the foreign State.

(b) A written statement received by the Central Authority from the foreign State in response to a request under paragraph (a) shall be admissible before the Judge in Chambers and, for the purposes of this section, be conclusive evidence that the person’s refusal is, or is not, well-founded under the law of that state.

(c) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, refuses to comply with an order of a Judge in Chambers made under this section or who, having refused to answer a question or to produce a document or article on a ground specified in subsection (7), continues to refuse notwithstanding the admission into evidence of a statement under paragraph (b) to the effect that the refusal is not well-founded, shall be in contempt of court.

PART III - FORMS OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

7. Foreign request for a virtual evidence-gathering order

(1) Where the Central Authority grants a request by a foreign State, or an international criminal tribunal, to order a person to give evidence by means of technology that permits the virtual presence of the person in the territory over which the foreign State has jurisdiction or in the International Criminal Tribunal, it may apply to a Judge in Chambers for an order for the taking of the virtual evidence of the person.

(2) Where there exist in Mauritius facilities for the taking of evidence by technology permitting the virtual presence of a person in the foreign State, the Judge in Chambers shall grant the application where he is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that -

(a) a serious offence has been or may have been committed against the law of the foreign State or, as the case may be, an international criminal tribunal offence has been or may have been committed ; and
(b) evidence relating to an offence referred to in paragraph (a) may be given by a person believed to be in Mauritius.

(3) A virtual evidence-gathering order made under subsection (2) may require any person named therein to-

(a) attend at a time and place fixed by the Judge in Chambers to give evidence by means of the technology ;
(b) answer any question put to him by the foreign State, or the international criminal tribunal, or a person authorised by any of them in accordance with the law that applies to that State, or to the tribunal ; and
(c) produce at the time and place fixed by the Judge in Chambers, or exhibit, any article, including a document, by means of the technology.

(4) Where a witness gives evidence under subsection (3) -

(a) the evidence shall be given as though the witness were physically before the court, or tribunal, outside Mauritius for the purposes of the laws relating to evidence and procedure, but only to the extent that giving the evidence would not entail disclosure of information otherwise protected by any law on non-disclosure of information or privilege ;
(b) the law of Mauritius relating to perjury shall apply with respect to any evidence given by the person as though the person was a witness before a court in Mauritius.

(5) Where a witness refuses -

(a) to attend at the time and place fixed by the Judge in Chambers ; or
(b) to answer a question, or produce, or show a document or article as ordered by the Judge in Chambers under subsection (3),
he shall be in contempt of the court.