Pre-constitution testimonial evidence victim trafficking in human beings

The Aliens Unit of the State Attorney General's Office has just published the Aliens factsheet – Trafficking in Human Beings: ‘Pre-constitution of testimonial evidence of the victim of trafficking in human beings. Assessment of the statement of the victim of trafficking in human beings‘ It addresses the following issues:

TSH FOREIGN SHEET
PRECONSTITUTION TESTIFICATION OF THE VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS
ASSESSMENT OF THE DECLARATION OF THE VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS
SUMMARY OF THE CASE-LAW OF THE SUPREME COURT
MEETING OF SPECIALIST FOREIGN PROSECUTORS
(MADRID, 25-26 OCTOBER 2021)

I. PRECONSTITUTION OF THE TESTIMONY OF THE VICTIM OF TREATMENT

1. Jurisprudential doctrine (p. 1).

(1) Original doctrine of the Constitutional Court: the principle of the presumption of innocence as an objective limit to the free assessment of evidence by the court (p. 1).

(2) Doctrine of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court taken into consideration by Chamber II of the Supreme Court in relation to pre-constituted evidence when prosecuting crimes of trafficking in human beings (p. 5).

2. The regulation of evidence pre-constituted in the Code of Criminal Procedure after the reform of LO 8/2021 (p. 10).

(1) Pre-constituted evidence provided for by law (p. 10).

(2) On the opportunity to take the evidence pre-constituted by the investigator of an open case in pursuit of a crime of trafficking in human beings (p. 14):

(A) The victim of trafficking: Persistent threats (p. 15):

(B) The victim of trafficking: psychological trauma (p. 15);

(C) The victim of trafficking: under the age of fourteen (p. 16);

(D) The victim of trafficking: a person with a disability in need of protection. Contribution from Ms AVELINA ALIA ROBLES (Prosecutor of the FGE Coordinating Unit for the Care of Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly) (p. 17);

(E) Foreign witness in an irregular administrative situation (p. 19).

(4) The adversarial principle must be guaranteed (p. 17).

(A) Standardised application of Article 449a LECrim (p.20).

(B) Special cases: impossibility of carrying out the pre-constituted test for reasons not attributable to the judicial authority (p. 23).

(4) The new Article 703a LECrim: the reproduction in plenary of the audio-visual recording and the presence of the witness at the event (p. 25).

II. THE TESTIMONY OF THE VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS: SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE CREDIBILITY.

1. General doctrine (p. 28).

2. Assessment of the testimony of the victim of trafficking (p.29)

3. The victim of trafficking as a protected witness (p. 32).

(A) Anonymous witnesses (p. 34).

(B) Hidden Witnesses (p. 35).

*Information obtained through the website of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.