When the establishment or evaluation of an important fact requires obtaining a diagnosis and opinion from a person who possesses the necessary professional knowledge, an order is issued to obtain such evidence from experts, including experts in the psychiatric profession.
It is mandatory immediately if there is a suspicion that the defendant was not sober at the time of the commission of the crime or that his sanity was reduced doubt about the ability to participate in criminal proceedings due to a medical condition. It is possible to perform medical psychiatric examination also for victims/ witness.
The judge issues a decree ordering an expert evaluation to be made, usually indicating in the order the name of the expert who, as a rule, is chosen from among the permanent, sworn-in court expert witnesses in a particular professional area. If a more complex expert evaluation is necessary, it is also possible to order the expert evaluation to be made by a particular institution or a group of experts. A person that is to be examined by a psychiatric expert is summoned to the examination by the expert himself. If he or she does not respond to the summons, an order can be issued for the police to bring him to the expert. It is also possible to order observation in a medical institution, as a deprivation of liberty.