In a case where overstating or fabricating a criminal action is the basis for the court returning the
case and the prosecutor shares the accountability, he or she may not be in charge of the
observation and indictment for that case again.
Article 20 (Reasons for Not Being Able to Be the Member of a Court that Hears the Same
Case Again)
A judge or People’s Assessor who participated in the first hearing of the trial may not be a
member of a first instance or appellate court, emergency appeal or retrial that rehears that case.
However, he or she may participate in a trial that rehears criminal action that the court sent back
because the preliminaries were insufficient.
Article 21 (Reasons for Not Being Able to Be the Members of One Court)
Judges and People’s Assessors who are relatives may not be members of one court.
Article 22 (Reasons for Not Being Able to Be a Witness)
A person provided for in Article 17 of this law and a person who because of mental illness or
another bodily defect cannot properly understand or correctly articulate facts he or she heard or
saw about a criminal case may not be a witness.
Article 23 (Reasons for Not Being Able to Be an Expert Witness, Interpreter, Translator, or
Interpreter)
A person who has a reason in Article 16 or Article 17 of this law or a person who does not have a
State qualification or professional knowledge may not be an expert witness, interpreter, translator
or interpreter.
Article 24 (Application to Exchange a Person Involved in an Action)
In cases where reasons under Article 16 to Article 23 under this law exist, a person involved in
an action may apply to exchange a detective, investigator, prosecutor, judge, People’s Assessor,
judicial clerk, scribe, witness, expert witness, interpreter, translator or interpreter to a prosecutor
at the investigation and preliminaries stage, and to the court at the trial stage.
Article 25 (Period during Trial to Apply for Exchange of a Person Involved in an Action)
An application during trial to exchange a person involved in the action shall be done before the
hearing on the facts commences. However, in cases where a reason appears to exchange a person
involved in the action or that fact becomes known after the hearing on the facts commences, an
application may also be made.
Article 26 (Treatment of an Application to Exchange a Person Involved in an Action in an
Investigation or Preliminaries)