Summary

The criminal court procedures laid down in the Code of Criminal Procedure are in their basic structure court proceedings with adversarial elements. One factor influencing the adversarial nature of court proceedings is cross-examination. Cross-examination, as provided for in § 288 of the Code of Criminal Procedures, should assist is thoroughly checking the trustworthiness of the statements of the witnesses, victims and the accused.

The article examines some aspects of cross-examination. Aspects covered are the order of the interrogations, differences between the initial and subsequent interrogations, impermissible methods, making public the statements given by the witness in the pre-court proceedings, differences in the interrogation of the accused, and the role of the court in cross-examination. As regards this latter aspect, the author emphasises that although according to the law, the court may interrogate the accused throughout the duration of the entire court investigation, the court could refrain from this interrogation right during the cross-examination of the accused.

The author admits that the legal regulation of cross-examination needs some adjustments. The law could specify whether and how those statements made by a witness in the pre-court proceedings, and made public during the court session in order to check the trustworthiness of the statements by the witness, can be used in making the court decision. It could also be specified as to how the interrogation of a further witness called by the court should take place.