Swiss Criminal Procedure Code
(Criminal Procedure Code, CrimPC)

¹ A vic­tim is a child with­in the mean­ing of this Art­icle if he or she is un­der 18 years of age at the time of the ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ing or con­front­a­tion hear­ing.

² The first ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ing with the child must take place as quickly as pos­sible.

³ The au­thor­ity may ex­clude the con­fid­ant from the pro­ceed­ings if this per­son could ex­ert a de­cis­ive in­flu­ence on the child.

⁴ If it is evid­ent that the ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ing or the con­front­a­tion hear­ing could be a ser­i­ous psy­cho­lo­gic­al bur­den for the child, the fol­low­ing rules ap­ply:

a.

A con­front­a­tion hear­ing with the ac­cused may be ordered only if the child ex­pressly re­quests the con­front­a­tion hear­ing or the ac­cused's right to a fair hear­ing can­not be guar­an­teed in any oth­er way.

b.

The child may not nor­mally be in­ter­viewed more than twice dur­ing the en­tire pro­ceed­ings.

c.

A second in­ter­view shall take place only if parties were un­able to ex­er­cise their rights at the first in­ter­view or the ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ing is es­sen­tial in the in­terests of the en­quir­ies or of the child. If pos­sible, the child should be ques­tioned by the same per­son who con­duc­ted the first in­ter­view.

d.

Ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ings shall be con­duc­ted in the pres­ence of a spe­cial­ist by an in­vest­ig­at­ing of­ficer spe­cific­ally trained for this pur­pose. Un­less a con­front­a­tion hear­ing is held, au­dio and video re­cord­ings shall be made of the ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ing.

e.

The parties shall ex­er­cise their rights through the per­son ask­ing the ques­tions.

f.

The per­son ask­ing the ques­tions and the spe­cial­ist shall re­cord their spe­cial ob­ser­va­tions in a re­port.

⁵ If it is ap­par­ent that the pres­ence of the ac­cused at the ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ing could cause a ser­i­ous psy­cho­lo­gic­al bur­den to the child des­pite pro­tect­ive meas­ures, the ac­cused may be ex­cluded from the ex­am­in­a­tion hear­ing, provided his or her right to a fair hear­ing can be guar­an­teed in a dif­fer­ent way.⁷⁷

⁶ Ex­clu­sion does not ap­ply to the de­fence law­yer; however, suit­able pro­tect­ive meas­ures shall be taken to pre­vent a ser­i­ous psy­cho­lo­gic­al bur­den to the child.⁷⁸