| Abstract [eng] |
The thesis discusses the testimony given by a witness, victim, suspect or defendant to a pre-trial investigation officer or public prosecutor, reading out the considered testimony in a trial, evaluation of the criminal procedure law rules governing the legal relationship in implementation of investigation into evidence. In pursuance of the above objective, general law literature, articles, monographs, case law of the Supreme Court of Lithuania, European Court of Human Rights, in which the testimony is given to a pre-trial investigation officer or public prosecutor, have been analyzed. The thesis considers the system of procedural rules provided for in the law ensuring optimal conditions for accomplishing such objectives of the criminal procedure as admissibility, relevance, data reliability, data sufficiency, adversarial principle. The specific character of the testimony given by a witness, victim, suspect, defendant has been examined; the conception of the testimony given to a pre-trial investigation officer or public prosecutor has been disclosed; the principal rules concerning reading out the testimony given to a pre-trial investigation officer of public prosecutor and significance of its evaluation that has been established in the regulatory enactments have been evaluated. Upon the analysis of the scientific literature and case law it may be stated that the court making a judgement (sentence) in the criminal procedure is entitled to refer to all the data including the data gathered in the course of the pre-trial investigation and the new data; however, it must examine the data during the trial by means of performing the following actions: interviewing the persons, reading the testimony given previously by a defendant, victim and witness to a pre-trial investigation judge, pre-trial investigation officer or public prosecutor in case there are certain fundamental contradictions between the previously given testimony and the testimony given in court (Part 4 of Subparagraph 3 of Paragraph 1 of Article 276 of the Code of Criminal Procedure), reading out written testimony. Article 276 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for the cases in which the testimony previously given by a defendant, victim and witness may be read out. The legislature determines different meaning for the testimony previously given by a defendant, victim and witness to a pre-trial investigation officer or public prosecutor. Paragraph 4 of Article 276 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for the following: “In order to verify the evidence available in the case, the testimony given by a defendant, victim and witness to a pre-trial investigation officer or public prosecutor may be read out. The officer that conducted questioning in a pre-trial investigation may be questioned as a witness.” Following the afore-mentioned statutory provision it is to be stated that the read testimony given by a defendant, victim or witness to a pre-trial investigation officer or public prosecutor does not constitute an independent source of evidence, but by virtue of the said data it is possible to verify other evidence accumulated in the case. |
