Fiches Belges

A witness may be confronted with several persons, among whom one is suspected. Prior to this, the witness is to be requested to describe the required characteristics of the suspect. The persons being compared should be as similar as possible to this description. Then the witness is to be asked to state whether he recognizes a person and on what circumstances this is the case. The same applies to the inspection of photographs and the hearing of voice samples.

Directive regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters in relation to Member States; otherwise: European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (20.04.1959); Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement; Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance between Member States of the European Union (29.05.2000).

The public prosecutor’s office with competences for the court district in which the act of judicial assistance is to be performed. If the competences cannot be determined, the public prosecutor’s office in Vienna is responsible. The practical execution of the measures is performed by the public prosecutor's office who can entrust the criminal police with this duty.

German, English, French and - in case of reciprocity, if the requesting state would accept a request in German language - also the language of the requesting state.

None (requests in urgent cases shall be marked as urgent).

In addition, a confrontation of the accused or a witness with other witnesses or accused persons is permissible if the respective statements deviate from one another in significant circumstances and it can be assumed that the clarification of the contradictions can thereby be promoted. The persons confronted with each other are to be especially heard about every single circumstance of their differing or contradictory statements; the mutual answers are to be recorded. Whenever the accused person is taking part in the confrontation, his/her defence counsel has the right to be present. There shall be compliance with a request for judicial assistance which requires a procedure that differs from Austrian laws on criminal procedure, if this is compatible with the criminal procedure and its principles.