Legal Measures to Protect the Rights of Witnesses in the Interrogation Stage: The Analysis of the Supreme Court Judgement No. 3214/2560

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the legal measures to protect the rights of witnesses in the interrogation stage who later become the accused under the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations, B.E. 2548 (2005). This was done by studying the analysis of Supreme Court Judgement No.3214/2560. Judgement here referred to the testimony in the investigation file as evidence in court without the case that the right to receive notification of rights of the arrested person has been performed under the Criminal Procedure Code, Section 84(2), because, according to the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations, B.E. 2548 (2005), Section 11(1), (2), the interrogation method is used with a procedural subject or a suspect, which makes the person who is summoned to be a witness in the criminal case by means of interrogation as a subject or a suspect to the inquiry official as a witness, not an arrested person. This is not enforced under the Criminal Procedure Code, Section 84, Paragraph 4, which states that the accused or arrested person has the right to be informed of their rights. As a result, such a person is not protected in regard to their human rights in the criminal justice process. The Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations, B.E.2548 (2005) and the Criminal Procedure Code should be amended to protect the rights of witnesses in the interrogation stage who later become the accused.