Libro Primero · Título III Capítulo I. Disposiciones generales

Procedural acts shall be performed in Spanish. When a person expresses himself or herself with difficulty in that language, the necessary assistance shall be provided to him or her so that the act can be carried out.

Statements by persons who do not know the official language or who are permitted to make use of their own language, statements by a deaf-mute person who cannot make himself or herself understood in writing, and documents or recordings in a different language or in another form of transmission of knowledge, shall have effect only once their translation or interpretation, as applicable, has been made.

Procedural acts shall also be carried out in an indigenous language and simultaneously translated into Spanish. In this case, the records and decisions shall be drafted in both languages.

Persons shall be questioned in Spanish or through a translator or an interpreter, when applicable. The tribunal may expressly permit direct questioning in another language or form of communication.

Persons who testify shall not consult notes or documents, unless they are authorized to do so.

The judges who control the investigation shall act at their own seat; however, they shall travel for the performance of those proceedings that require their presence at any place within their jurisdiction.

The trial shall be held and the judgment shall be rendered at the seat of the tribunal. However, the sentencing tribunals may sit at any place within the territory covered by their jurisdiction. In case of doubt, the place that favors the exercise of the defense and ensures the holding of the trial shall be chosen.

Unless the law contains a special provision, acts may be performed on any day and at any time. During hearings, the president of the tribunal shall orally inform all those present of the day, time and place of its resumption, in case of postponement or suspension with a determined time limit.

When one or more acts must be documented, the public official performing them, assisted by his Secretary, shall draw up the corresponding record, in the manner prescribed by this Code.

Oral hearings, unilateral or bilateral, may be recorded in audio and/or video format, or any other form of recording that guarantees their fidelity.

Administrative assistants shall be responsible for properly archiving the recordings, and shall deliver a digital copy thereof to those who participate, whether physically or digitally.

The records shall include:

1)The place and the date on which it is carried out and the proceedings to which it corresponds. The time shall be recorded when the law or the circumstances so require.

2)The given names and surnames of the persons who participate and, where applicable, the reason for the non-attendance of those who were obligated to participate.

3)The indication of the steps taken and of their results.

4)The statements received in the form established for each case; and

5)The signatures of all those who participate and are required to do so, after reading. When any of them does not wish to or cannot do so, mention thereof shall be made. If any of them does not know how to sign, another person may do so for him, at his request, or a witness to the act summoned for that purpose, and he shall affix his fingerprint.

The record shall state compliance with the special provisions provided for particular cases.

The record may be replaced, in whole or in part, by another form of register, unless expressly provided otherwise. In that case, the person presiding over the act shall determine the appropriate safeguard to guarantee its future unalterability or individualization.

It is prohibited to make scrapings or blots in the records and other proceedings. Nor may letters or words be superimposed. Errors or discarded words shall be crossed out, drawing over them a line that must leave them perfectly legible. Omitted words or letters shall be interlineated within the respective lines. At the end the corresponding clarification shall be made.

The Public Prosecutor's Office shall keep a register of the procedural acts carried out during the investigation.

The judge shall solely hold the originals of the orders by which he ordered a precautionary measure, a coercive measure, a substitute measure or a proceeding implying a restriction of an individual right or anticipated evidence.

On the day following the taking of the first statement of the accused person and the resolution of his procedural legal status, the judge, under his responsibility, shall remit the procedural acts to the Public Prosecutor's Office so that the latter may proceed in accordance with the law.

The documentation and procedural acts to be remitted to the Sentencing Tribunal referred to in Article 345 of this Code are:

1)The request for opening to trial and the accusation by the Public Prosecutor's Office or the complainant;

2)The record of the oral hearing in which the opening of the trial was determined; and,

3)The decision by which it is decided to admit the accusation and open to trial.

Material evidence not obtained through judicial seizure shall be preserved by the Public Prosecutor's Office, which shall present and incorporate it as means of evidence in the debate, provided that it has been offered as such at the corresponding procedural opportunity. The parties shall have the right in the course of the proceedings to examine it by themselves or by experts, in accordance with the law.

The parties may obtain at their own expense simple photocopies of the procedural acts without any formality. All written procedural acts shall be kept in duplicate to the effect that, when the appeal is granted without suspensive effect, the tribunal may continue hearing the case and send the original case file to the Appeals Chamber.

When an incident is raised for which this Code does not provide a specific procedure, the following shall apply:

The party raising the incident shall request a hearing to substantiate it, setting forth the arguments supporting its request and offering and identifying the evidence when it refers to questions of fact. An incident raised without complying with the foregoing requirements shall be rejected. The judge or tribunal that is to hear the incident shall summon the accused person, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the other parties to a hearing to be held within the maximum time limit of two (2) days where it involves questions of law, and five (5) days where it involves questions of fact.

Having heard the parties and, where applicable, having received the evidence, the jurisdictional body, at the respective hearing, shall decide the incident without further proceedings.

If the incident is raised in the course of an oral hearing and there is no other procedure provided in this Code, it shall be processed in accordance with the provisions regarding incidents during the oral and public debate.