Projet de loi relatif au recueil de déclarations au moyen de médias audiovisuels.
General information ¶
- Submitted by
- Groen Open Vld Vooruit PS | SP Ecolo MR Verhofstadt Ⅰ
- Submission date
- Jan. 11, 2002
- Official page
- Visit
- Status
- Adopted
- Requirement
- Simple
- Subjects
- criminal procedure
Voting ¶
- Voted to adopt
- Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR FN VB
Contact form ¶
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Discussion ¶
May 16, 2002 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)
Full source
Rapporteur Fauzaya Talhaoui ⚙
I refer to the written report.
President Herman De Croo ⚙
Does anyone ask for the word?
Hugo Coveliers Open Vld ⚙
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, colleagues, I would like to point out the importance of this text. Once again, this is a bill that must be seen in the light of the possibilities created to give the prosecutor’s office and the courts the opportunity to adequately respond to a number of counter-strategies due primarily to organized crime. There were the anonymous witnesses, there were the protected witnesses, and this text implies that a number of interrogations can be conducted through video conferencing or video recordings. Therefore, one does not run the risk of major material difficulties at the time of the procedure. I refer to the so-called Octopus process of the Hakkelaar in the Netherlands. There, first and foremost, one had to make a deal with witness Fouad Abbas and then one had to question this man in a somewhat amateurist way in a lump. These images were then sent to the courtroom. It may be much more convenient to use the ways suggested in this design. Their
Secondly, I would also like to point out that the guarantees given to the suspects in this text are guarantees that fit in a rule of law. It is clearly stated that the system can only be applied if there is reciprocity, that is, if the evidence collection in the country where the video recording took place, where the interrogation took place, allows this. I think this is important because, on the one hand, we need to give especially strong measures to the prosecutor’s office, to the police services, in order to realize the finding of truth. On the other hand, we must not forget that in all these measures we must always give guarantees in a democratic rule of law, including to the suspects. They must have the fundamental rights to which they are entitled. This will therefore likely give the possibility that, in the event of a conviction, the adjustment and recovery process of the individual convicted may go faster and may lead to an acceptance of the standards. Therefore, we enthusiastically support this proposal of the Minister of Justice.