The status of a witness in Czech and French criminal procedure - comparison The subject of my thesis is a comparison of the status of a witness in a Czech and French criminal procedure. I have chosen this theme because I'm interested in criminal law and I also pursue studying French law. During this activity I found an institute of assisted witness which is completely unique and unknown in a Czech legal environment. This thesis is divided into three parts, at first I focus on the status of a witness in Czech legislation, the second part contains a French regulation and the third is a comparison of those two. The first thing in a first part is a determination who the witness is and who can be a witness in a criminal procedure. Then I concern with rights and duties which the witness owns and must fulfil during the proceedings. Next chapter deals with a course of an examination of the witness and with questions connected with an examination, e.g. tactics of examination. In the next chapter there is possible to find out specifics of a situation when the witness is a minor. Next important aspect is also a protection of a witness who is jeopardized because of a provision of a testimony. We can also find out conditions and methods of providing the protection. I affiliated two particular chapters in...

À la suite d’une décision orale rendue le 28 janvier 2009 par la Chambre de première instance I dans l'affaire Lubanga, la Cour pénale internationale a institué un nouvel acteur du procès pénal international : le témoin susceptible d'auto-incrimination qui, à ce titre, est assisté d'un conseil. Ce « témoin assisté » a en commun avec le suspect leur suspicion, et, avec le témoin ordinaire, leur comparution à l’audience ès qualité de témoins. Il n’est cependant ni totalement un suspect – parce que non poursuivable devant la Cour – ni totalement un témoin, parce que notamment impliqué dans la procédure principale. L’évolution de cet acteur singulier du procès pénal international aura eu le mérite de permettre à la Cour de revisiter des notions classiques du droit international pénal. Grâce à lui, la qualité de « parties » n’est plus une forteresse réservée à l’accusation et à la défense. Le témoin ordinaire, considéré comme tiers passif à l’instance, partage désormais la barre avec un « témoin » actif pouvant diligenter des procédures « détachables » de la procédure principale. En sept ans d’existence, le témoin assisté a tellement impacté la procédure pénale internationale qu’une révision des textes fondamentaux de la Cour s’impose pour mettre un terme à la cacophonie jurisprudentielle des chambres sur l’étendue de ses droits et obligations. / Following an oral decision given by the Trial Chamber I in the Lubanga case, the International Criminal Court has introduced a new player into international criminal cases: the self-incriminating witness, who is assisted by a counsel. This "assisted witness", like the suspect, is under suspicion, and like an ordinary witness appears before the Court to testify. However, he is neither completely a suspect, since he cannot be convicted by the Court, nor completely a witness, since he is implicated in the criminal proceedings. The evolution of the role of this singular player in international criminal cases has given the Court the opportunity of reviewing traditional notions of international criminal law. Thanks to this situation, the status of the different parties is no longer restricted to prosecution and defense. The ordinary witness, considered as a passive third party in the trial, now shares the stand with an active witness who is able to speed up proceedings that are separable from the main proceedings. In seven years of existence, the assisted witness has had such an impact on criminal proceedings that it has become necessary to revise the core texts of the Court in order to put an end to the legal confusion among the different chambers regarding the extent of this witness's rights and obligations.