SECTION V - Preliminary Proceedings

AuthorK. Neumann
ProfessionSir
Pages145
  1. The ordinary procedure of courts of first insance is dealt with in the second book of the StPO and is divided into 'Preliminary Proceedings ' and 'Definitive Proceedings ', the latter beginning when the holding of the trial has been decided upon. Preliminary proceedings may consist in either:

    a preliminary investigation by the public prosecutor (vorbereitendes Verfahren), or in an enquiry before a magistrate (gerichtliche Voruntersuchung). In contrast to English procedural practice, both kinds of preliminary investigation take place in camera.

    13112 L

  2. When the public prosecutor conducts a preliminary investigation, he does so either on his own initiative or on ' information received ', i.e. a denunciation. The aim of such investigation is the framing of the charge and the collection of evidence which may be no longer available at the date of a subsequent trial. Having examined the information at his disposal, the prosecutor decides whether or not a preliminary investigation is likely to lead to any positive result. If he comes to a negative conclusion, he stops the proceedings; if he decides to continue, two ways are open to him: he may conduct the investigation himself, or he may authorize the police to undertake it for him. In some cases it may be necessary for a judge to intervene, because only a judge is entitled to take certain measures possibly included in the preliminaries. Judicial intervention is for example required where compulsive measures are applied to the accused; where witnesses are interrogated under oath, or where a post mortem is ordered. But even here, the prosecutor remains in charge of the preliminary proceedings, the judge acting either on application by the prosecutor or in his stead as '...

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