CONVICTED ON THE BASIS OF A PLEA AGREEMENT AS A WITNESS
Keywords:
confession of a criminal offence, agreement, convict, witnessAbstract
In practice, extended effect of the plea agreement has been noted in criminal cases where the conviction based on the plea agreement is used as evidence in criminal proceedings against other defendants. At that, the defendant at whose trial the plea agreement or the decision based on such an agreement is used as evidence is denied the right to examine the person who has concluded the plea agreement as a witness. The paper presents reasons due to which a defendant should be allowed to examine the person who has concluded a plea agreement in his/her capacity as a witness. It also points out to the rights of the defendant and the criminal procedure principles that are infringed upon in such a case. The attitude taken by the Supreme Court of Cassation regarding this issue has been subjected to a critical analysis and possible solutions to this problem have been suggested.
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