Fiches Belges

This measure concerns bringing face-to-face the accused party and witnesses accused parties with each other and witnesses with each other in order to be able to clarify certain facts that may be useful in exposing the truth.

Directive 2014/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters (Articles 3) ; European Convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters of 20th April 1959 and its additional Protocol of 17th March 1978.

* receive the request/decision for judicial cooperation The request has to be sent to the local public prosecutor's office of the geographical area where the investigating measure has to be executed (place of residence of the witness or suspect/ place of detention of the suspect). If this area is not known, the letter of request has to be sent to the federal prosecutor's office - section of international cooperation. * execute/recognise the measure (if other than the receiving authority) The public prosecutor or the investigating judge.

Dutch, French, German and English. Important remarks: Before the execution, the request will be translated by the Belgian prosecutor if the language is not the language of the judicial area where the request must be executed. It is recommended, when possible, to obtain, prior to sending the request, information about the use of the correct language.

The deadlines as foreseen in the EIO Directive are applicable There is no specific deadline foreseen by Belgian law for the execution of letters of request. If the requested deadline cannot be respected, the requesting state will be informed accordingly.

The presence of the requesting judicial authority and/or investigators can be allowed; this has to be requested explicitly in the letter of request. A confrontation can be done using video-conferencing (see fiche A.12). This measure is not provided for by the Code of Criminal Procedure but it is common practice. It can be implemented according to various methods: it can consist of bringing the parties concerned directly face-to-face within the framework of a cross-examination whereby they are called up in turn to answer questions, confrontation behind a two-way mirror or presenting photographs or a video.