The Confrontation in a Criminal Case: Is the Presence of the Procuracy Mandatory?

According to Article 189 of the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code, the provisions on confrontation are as follows:

- In cases where there are discrepancies in the testimonies between two or more people and other investigative measures have been taken but the discrepancies have not been resolved, the Investigator shall conduct a confrontation. Before conducting the confrontation, the Investigator must notify the Procuracy at the same level to assign a Procurator to oversee the confrontation. The Procurator must be present to supervise the confrontation. If the Procurator is absent, this must be clearly recorded in the confrontation minutes.

- If witnesses or victims are involved, before the confrontation, the Investigator must explain to them their responsibilities regarding refusal, evasion of testimony, or intentionally providing false testimonies. This must be recorded in the minutes.

- At the beginning of the confrontation, the Investigator shall ask about the relationship between the participants in the confrontation, then ask them about details that need to be clarified. After hearing the confrontation, the Investigator may ask additional questions to each person.

During the confrontation, the Investigator may present relevant evidence, documents, and objects; participants in the confrontation may question each other; questions and answers from these individuals must be recorded in the minutes.

The previous testimonies of those participating in the confrontation may only be repeated after they have finished providing their new declarations.

- The confrontation minutes shall be prepared in accordance with the provisions of Article 178 of this Code. The confrontation may be audio-recorded or video-recorded with sound.

- If necessary, the Procurator may conduct the confrontation. The confrontation shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this Article.

=> Thus, according to the above regulations, the confrontation in a criminal case requires the Procurator to be present; if absent, the reason for the absence must be clearly recorded in the confrontation minutes.

Respectfully.