PARTICULARITIES CONCERNING THE ADMISSIBILITY OF THE ABSENT WITNESS STATEMENTS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Igor DOLEA, Valeria CARAMAN Universitatea de Stat din Moldova

Аннотация

This article addresses the issues relating to the use of absent witness statements. Starting from the self-limitation of
the European Court of Human Rights to get involved in the issue of the admissibility of a specific evidence and ensuring
the fairness of the process as a whole, the aspect of non-attendance of the witness in court from the perspective of art.6
par.(3) let.d) of the European Convention on Human Rights shall be approached. In this respect, the guiding principles
set out by the European Court of Human Rights, which are also applicable under the national systems of the state parties,
when examining such situations, are analyzed. Also, there are made certain attempts to analyze the reasons of the witness’s
failure to be present during the hearing from the perspective of the equality of arms. In the same context, certain grounds
for his non-appearance are listed, derived from the European Court’s case law. Likewise, the case law of the Court is
analyzed in relation to the term "sole or decisive evidence" and the elements of counterbalancing factors.
A separate analysis was conducted in relation to the national norms and of the EctHR’s case law in relation to the
Republic of Moldova, it being concluded with an examination of the situations involving a risk of deviation from the
stated principles.
Keywords: witnesses, absent witness, witness statements, sole or decisive evidence.