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by jand 2199 days ago
Just for context: This is relativly new in Germany. In 2017 there was a change which has as consequences

- witnesses _have to_ appear in person if requested (by police or DA)

- witnesses _have to_ make statements regarding the case at hand

This is quite a nice tool if you lack moral. You might request the suspect to appear as a witness and try to leverage the new requirements to make the suspect reveal damaging information.

Maybe this was the reason that Germany was mentioned before.

2 comments

>This is quite a nice tool if you lack moral. You might request the suspect to appear as a witness and try to leverage the new requirements to make the suspect reveal damaging information.

Germany doesn't have protections against self-incrimination? Or does this rely on the suspect being too cooperative for his own good?

Germany does have such protection. Parent was probably wildly speculating:

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auskunftsverweigerungsrecht

I think you meant to link to https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aussageverweigerungsrecht . Auskunftsverweigerungsrecht, according to the article, is a right of witnesses.
We were talking about the rights of witnesses?
I was referring to this question by the grandparent which I read as being about a suspect's (not a witness's) rights:

> Germany doesn't have protections against self-incrimination?

Do you have a source for that and/or an article where they elaborate on the implications of those changes?