Newsletter
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT ADMIS-SIBLE AS EVIDENCE
It has long been a matter of dispute in practice whether statements about a trademark or copy-right infringement made by a complainant in a criminal complaint may be admitted as evidence.
In a 2004 judgment, the Supreme Court held that the Code of Criminal Procedure does not define the testimony of a complainant as an independent means of evidence. If the statements of a com-plainant on his personal experience as a victim are to be used as a basis for determining the facts of the offence, then the complainant has the status of a witness. In other words, the means of evidence is witness testimony, and the proce-dures for investigating witness testimony must be carried out. Unless there are statutory grounds for not instructing the witness to sign a declaration confirming the truth of his testimony (equivalent to an oath in Anglo-American pro-cedure), then the trial court should instruct the complainant to make such a declaration. If a complainant fails to do so, then the complainant's statements are not admissible in evidence. In another 2004 judgment, the Court stated that other victims of the same offence who have not filed criminal complaints also have the status of witnesses.
In yet another 2004 judgment, the Court stated that the purpose of filing a criminal complaint is to trigger prosecution against the accessed. Whether the statements made by the complainant are true should be determined by examining other evidence; however, the evidence is not limited to direct evidence. If there is other, in-direct evidence that may assist the court in fact-finding, such evidence should be examined too.
The above judgments appear to confirm that a complaint statements may be admitted in evi-dence, while clarifying the methods by which such evidence should be examined.