{"id":48699,"date":"2023-12-31T23:18:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T21:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koumentakislaw.gr\/articles\/%cf%83%ce%b5-%ce%b8%ce%b5%cf%89%cf%81%ce%bf%cf%8d%ce%bd-%ce%ad%ce%bd%ce%bf%cf%87%ce%bf-%cf%86-%ce%ba%ce%ac%cf%86%ce%ba%ce%b1-%ce%b7-%ce%b4%ce%af%ce%ba%ce%b7\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T10:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:17:19","slug":"police-witness-statements-criminal-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koumentakislaw.gr\/en\/articles\/police-witness-statements-criminal-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"They Consider You Guilty (Franz Kafka, The Trial)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">The draft law of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ministryofjustice.gr\/\">Ministry of Justice<\/a>, currently under public consultation, proposes a new rule: <strong>\u201cpolice officers and other preliminary investigation officers who have given evidence during the pre-trial proceedings shall not be summoned to appear at the hearing; instead, their statements shall be read out in court.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">These officers have already given sworn statements during the pre-trial proceedings. Their appearance at the hearing is therefore regarded by the drafters as:<\/p>\n<ul data-spread=\"false\">\n<li><strong>unnecessary<\/strong> and <strong>pointless<\/strong>, since \u201cin the overwhelming majority of cases, they have no additional evidence to contribute\u201d;<\/li>\n<li><strong>time-consuming<\/strong> and <strong>dilatory<\/strong>, since their examination \u201cwill prolong the duration of the hearing\u201d, while their failure to appear may result in the adjournment of the case;<\/li>\n<li><strong>unjustified<\/strong> and <strong>costly<\/strong>, since their absence from duty contributes to understaffing, while the State also bears the cost of their attendance in court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The Search for Substantive Truth in the Ministry of Justice Draft Law Under Consultation<\/h3>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">The following thoughts are offered as a modest contribution to the debate, viewed through the prism of the fundamental purpose of criminal proceedings: the search for substantive truth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">First, as a matter of legal policy, it is crucial to examine whether the proposed rule is compatible with fundamental principles of criminal proceedings, including, indicatively, the principles of orality, adversarial proceedings, equality of arms, comprehensive examination of the case and immediacy, and whether it is consistent with other provisions of the procedural system. It is also necessary, from an epistemological perspective, to examine the evidentiary basis supporting this legislative initiative. <strong>Serious reservations arise on both counts.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">Beyond this, the proposal rests on a <strong>traditional and, to a considerable extent, outdated understanding of how the human mind functions<\/strong>. Science now shows us that the human brain does not operate merely as a mechanism for recording experiences; it constructs experiences and reconstructs memories. We must also accept that, although human sensory perception is highly developed and memory remarkable, we remain vulnerable to incomplete and false information and memories. Sincerity, detail and certainty in a person&#8217;s account do not, in themselves, mean that what is being recounted is accurate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">At the same time, empirical findings reveal that <strong>a significant number of witness identifications of suspects are incorrect from the outset<\/strong>. Yet when a witness identifies a person whom the authorities already regard as a suspect, the witness may readily be considered reliable, the suspect becomes an accused person and is brought to trial. If the police officer is then spared the \u201cordeal of the courtroom\u201d and their statement is simply read aloud, neither the reliability of the police officer nor the reliability of the witness identification reflected in that statement is effectively tested. The accused therefore risks being regarded, in substance, as guilty without proper scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><strong>Consequently, the in-person scrutiny of statements through the examination of the persons involved must be regarded as necessary.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">The speedy conduct of criminal proceedings reflects a legitimate and understandable demand of both the victim and society. It is, however, also in the interests of the accused, who is entitled to have their case heard \u201cwithin a reasonable time\u201d under Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights.<\/p>\n<p>The drafter of the proposed legislation overlooks this dimension and attempts to suggest that the principles of a fair trial \u2014 which, under the proposed approach, would increasingly operate only by way of exception \u2014 are responsible for the failings of criminal justice and the wounds suffered by society. Such failings and wounds undoubtedly exist. Yet the former cannot be prevented, nor the latter healed, by weakening fundamental procedural safeguards \u2014 a choice that only reinforces the bleak title of this article. <strong>It is our scientific duty and responsibility to prove it wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Written by George Karanikolas,<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Senior Associate <strong>Koumentakis and Associates Law Firm<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><strong>P.S. 1<\/strong> <em>The Trial<\/em> is a German-language novel by Franz Kafka. Kafka began writing it in 1914. It was published posthumously in 1925 by his friend Max Brod, despite Kafka&#8217;s wish that the manuscripts of his unfinished work be destroyed. The novel&#8217;s central character is the bank employee Josef K. His life is suddenly thrown into disarray when two strangers knock on his door and inform him that they have come to take him before an examining magistrate. Surely there must be some misunderstanding: Josef K. cannot possibly have done anything wrong. After being questioned, he is temporarily released, but he has already lost his peace of mind. No explicit accusation has been made against him, yet he cannot escape the feeling that he is considered guilty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><em>The trial and conviction of Josef K. for a crime he did not commit \u2014 or at least did not know he had committed \u2014 constitutes an<\/em> <strong><em>open critique of the power of authority<\/em><\/strong>, <em>an authority that makes every citizen feel that everything is more powerful than they are and that resistance is futile. Like Josef K., every individual risks being swept along by a power that strips them of their rights, deprives them of the will to resist, renders the law ineffective and ultimately crushes them.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The information contained in this article does not constitute, nor is it intended to constitute, legal advice. Such legal advice may only be provided by a qualified lawyer who has considered all the facts and circumstances of your particular case. Read more.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The draft law of the Ministry of Justice, currently under public consultation, proposes a new rule: \u201cpolice officers and other preliminary investigation officers who have given evidence during the pre-trial proceedings shall not be summoned to appear at the hearing; instead, their statements shall be read out in court.\u201d These officers have already given sworn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1294,1296,1283,1284,1293,1295,1290,1291,1285,1297,1287,1286,1292,1289,1288],"class_list":["post-48699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-adversarial-proceedings","tag-article-6-echr","tag-criminal-law","tag-criminal-procedure","tag-equality-of-arms","tag-european-convention-on-human-rights","tag-evidence","tag-eyewitness-identification","tag-fair-trial","tag-greek-criminal-law","tag-police-witnesses","tag-right-to-a-fair-trial","tag-rights-of-the-accused","tag-witness-examination","tag-witness-statements"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Police Witness 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