Police officers are now also witnesses

On June 21, 2022, the Supreme Court handed down an important judgment of principle. Indeed, the Court ruled for the first time that police officers may also be called as witnesses before the Belgian courts.

Before witnesses (in general) can be called, a number of conditions must be met.
Those conditions have been in place for some time.

But the fact that police officers can now also be called as witnesses in correctional cases is new in our Belgian legal system.

Indeed, in the past, police officers were not labeled as witnesses, with the result that their determinations were no longer open to question at the hearing. They could not, in other words, be questioned at the hearing to verify how they arrived at certain determinations or why it is that there are certain contradictions between one determination and another.

Now the Court of Cassation has broken that old case law and, more specifically, a judgment of the Antwerp Court of Appeal - which explicitly stated that police officers are not witnesses.

As a result, Belgian jurisprudence is being adapted to the standards established some time ago by the European Court of Human Rights.

Indeed, that Court ruled back in 2019 that police officers may be called as witnesses before a court or court of appeals, as may experts, victims and co-defendants.

Jorgen Van Laer and Hendrik Vandekerckhove of Bannister Lawyers, in other words, have succeeded in protecting their client's rights.

Are you being accused based on findings or statements made by others? If you have any questions on this subject, please feel free to contact us at info@bannister.be or 03/369.28.00.