Letters Rogatory
CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
(Legislative Part)
Article 151
The examining magistrate can request by letter rogatory any judge of his court, any investigating judge or any judicial police officer, who in this case notifies the public prosecutor, to proceed with the information acts he considers necessary in places where each of them is territorially competent.
The letter rogatory indicates the nature of the offense, which is the subject of the prosecution. It is dated and signed by the magistrate who issues it and covered with his seal.
It can only prescribe investigative acts directly related to the repression of the offense referred to in prosecution.
The investigating judge sets the time limit within which the letter rogatory must be returned to him with the reports drawn up for its execution by the judicial police officer. In the absence of such a determination, the letter rogatory and the minutes must be sent to it within eight days of the end of the operations carried out by virtue of it.
Article 152
The magistrates or judicial police officers appointed for the execution exercise, within the limits of the letters rogatory, all the powers of the examining magistrate.
However, the judicial police officers cannot proceed to the interrogations and confrontations of the persons under examination. They can only proceed with the hearing of the civil parties or of the assisted witness at the request of the latter.
The investigating judge may go, without being assisted by his clerk or having to draw up a report, to direct and control the execution of the letter rogatory, provided that he does not himself carry out acts of ‘instruction. On the occasion of this transport, he can order the extension of the custody pronounced within the framework of the letter rogatory. In all cases, mention of this transport is made on the execution documents of the letters rogatory.
Article 153
Any witness called to be heard during the execution of a rogatory commission is required to appear, take an oath and give evidence. Where there is no plausible reason to suspect that he has committed or attempted to commit an offense, he may only be detained for the time strictly necessary for his hearing.
If he does not meet this obligation, notice is given to the mandating magistrate who can compel him to appear by law enforcement. The witness who does not appear incurs the fine provided for by article 434-15-1 of the penal code.
The obligation to take an oath and to give evidence is not applicable to persons held in police custody in application of the provisions of article 154. The fact that persons in police custody have been heard after having taken the oath does not, however, constitute a cause. nullity of the procedure.
Article 154
When the judicial police officer is required, for the requirements of the execution of the letter rogatory, to keep at his disposal a person against whom there are one or more plausible reasons to suspect that he has committed or tempted to commit an offense, he informs the investigating judge seized of the facts from the start of this measure. The latter controls the custody measure. The judicial police officer cannot detain the person for more than twenty-four hours.
The person must be presented before the expiry of the twenty-four hour period to this magistrate or, if the letter rogatory is executed in a jurisdiction other than that of his seat, to the investigating judge of the place of execution of the measure. . At the end of this presentation, the examining magistrate can grant the written authorization to extend the measure by a new time limit, without this being able to exceed twenty-four hours. It may, exceptionally, grant this authorization by written and reasoned decision without prior presentation of the person.
For the application of this article, the jurisdictions of the courts of first instance of Paris, Nanterre,
The provisions of articles 63-1, 63-2, 63-3, 63-4, 64 and 65 are applicable to police custody carried out within the framework of this section. The powers conferred on the public prosecutor by articles 63-2 and 63-3 are then exercised by the examining magistrate. The information provided for in the third paragraph of article 63-4 specifies that custody takes place within the framework of a letter rogatory.
Article 154
When the judicial police officer is required, for the requirements of the execution of the letter rogatory, to keep at his disposal a person against whom there are one or more plausible reasons to suspect that he has committed or tempted to commit an offense, he informs the investigating judge seized of the facts from the start of this measure. The latter controls the custody measure. The judicial police officer cannot detain the person for more than twenty-four hours.
The person must be presented before the expiry of the twenty-four hour period to this magistrate or, if the letter rogatory is executed in a jurisdiction other than that of his seat, to the investigating judge of the place of execution of the measure. . At the end of this presentation, the examining magistrate can grant the written authorization to extend the measure by a new time limit, without this being able to exceed twenty-four hours. It may, exceptionally, grant this authorization by written and reasoned decision without prior presentation of the person.
For the application of this article, the jurisdictions of the courts of first instance of Paris, Nanterre,
The provisions of articles 63-1, 63-2, 63-3, 63-4, 64, 64-1 and 65 are applicable to police custody carried out within the framework of this section. The powers conferred on the public prosecutor by articles 63-2, 63-3 and 64-1 are then exercised by the examining magistrate. The information provided for in the third paragraph of article 63-4 specifies that custody takes place within the framework of a letter rogatory.
Article 154-1
For the requirements of the execution of the letter rogatory, the judicial police officer may proceed with the external direct debit operations provided for in article 55-1.
The provisions of the second and third paragraphs of article 55-1 are applicable.
Article 154-2
The examining magistrate who intends to indict a person who has not already been heard as an assisted witness may request by letter rogatory, in accordance with the procedures provided for in article 151, any examining magistrate to carry out the indictment. in examination of this person in accordance with the provisions of article 116.
The investigating judge responsible for executing the letter rogatory then proceeds to indict the person in accordance with the provisions of article 116, unless he considers, in the light of his observations or those of his lawyer, that there is no serious or concordant evidence against her that makes her guilty probable, in which case this magistrate informs her that she enjoys the rights of the assisted witness.
When a person has already been heard as an assisted witness, the examining magistrate may request by letter rogatory any investigating judge to proceed with the indictment of this person.
Article 155
When the rogatory commission prescribes simultaneous operations on various points of the territory, it may, on the order of the instructing magistrate, be addressed to the investigating judges or judicial police officers responsible for its execution in the form of reproduction or full copy of the original.
It can even, in an emergency, be broadcast by any means; each distribution must, however, specify the essential details of the original and especially the nature of the indictment, the name and the capacity of the mandating magistrate.
