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you are here: > African Union Judicial Code
> Article 88
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16. General
principles of criminal hearing
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| Article 88-Criminal Hearing Procedure | ||
| 88.1 | Criminal Hearing Procedure | |
| The defendant having been brought to court, a criminal hearing shall proceed in the following order: | ||
| 1. The reading of the indictment | ||
| The judge shall be responsible for reading the indictment, excluding any fact sheets or further details of the indictment and only the offences, the primary facts of the offences and the key facts alleged that relate to the primary facts of the offence(s). | ||
| 2. The opportunity of special pleas | ||
| If the defense wish to enter a late plea of guilty, then this is the last opportunity to do so, which automatically shall make the defendant eligible to the minimum penalties listed under penitence for the particular offences , not withstanding aggrevated circumstances. | ||
| A non-response, or reentering of not guilty shall continue the trial. | ||
| 3. The presentation of the prosecution facts of case | ||
| Following the opportunity for special plea, the prosecutor shall them present the prosecution facts of case, at which time the prosecution is permitted to include all relevant facts pertaining to previous charges as well as current facts of the case where the defendant has an active criminal record. | ||
| 4. The presentation of the defense primary criminal theme and facts | ||
| Following the prosecution facts of case, the defense shall present the primary criminal theme and facts upon which they will defend the case. | ||
| There are only three possible primary criminal defense themes of not guilty and only one may be permitted to be presented, namely (a) Innocence by fact(s) (b) Innocence by ommission/inconclusive fact(s) or (c) Innocence by procedural injustice . | ||
| 5. Evidence and testimony of prosecution witnesses | ||
| Upon the completion of the presentation of the defense primary criminal theme and facts, the prosecution shall present their evidence and testimony of witnesses. During this process, the defense shall have the right to cross examine once each witness presented. | ||
| 6. Evidence and testimony of prosecution witnesses | ||
| Upon the completion of the presentation of the prosecution evidence and testimony of witnessess, the defense shall present their evidence and testimony of witnesses. During this process, the prosecution shall have the right to cross examine once each witness presented. | ||
| 7. Summary of case by defense | ||
| Upon completion of evidence and testimony of witnesses of the defense, the defense shall summarize their case before the judge. | ||
| 8. Summary of case by prosecution | ||
| Upon completion of summary of case by defense, the prosecution shall summarize their case before the judge. | ||
| 9. Return of judge with verdict | ||
| The judge shall retire to consider their verdict and then shall return to read their verdict. | ||
| 10. Release, bail or remand of defendant | ||
| Upon the reading of the verdict, the defendant shall either be released on a verdict of not-guilty, (if no other charges are pending and they are not currently serving a sentence), or shall be bailed to re-appear if the sentence is non custodial, or shall be remanded awaiting sentence if the offence for which they were found guilty carries a custodial penalty. | ||
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