Principles of German Criminal Procedure by Bohlander Michael

Author:Bohlander, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847318985
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

Fitness to testify—protective measures for vulnerable witnesses

There is no minimum age for a person to be a witness; children may be witnesses, depending on their mental and intellectual development, and maturity in the individual case.20 Similarly, the law does not exclude any class of person as generally unfit to give evidence, and thus in principle even severely physically or mentally disabled21 people can give evidence as witnesses, the problem arising in the areas of establishing what they wish to testify (eg, by the use of sign language) and of the evaluation of the content of their testimony. The law allows for special ways of taking the oath for hearing-or speech-impaired witnesses (§ 66).

Sections 241a, 247a and 255a(2) contain special provisions for the protection of vulnerable and under-age witnesses, which in certain circumstances and/or for specific serious offence categories:

a) restrict the right of the parties and the other judges to question such witnesses directly, requiring them to channel any questions through the presiding judge;

b) allow testimony to be heard via video link; and

c) permit the playing of audio-visual recordings of a previous statement of the witness instead of live testimony, with a discretionary possibility to have additional live testimony from the witness.

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