Chapter I: The investigating judge: court of first instance

If, during the course of the investigation, it transpires that the acts of which the person under investigation is accused under a correctional charge actually constitute a crime, the examining magistrate shall notify the person, after informing him or her of his or her intention and taking any observations from him or her and his or her lawyer, that a criminal charge is to be substituted for the charge initially…

The public prosecutor may attend the questioning, hearings and confrontations of the accused person, the civil party and the assisted witness. Whenever he has informed the examining magistrate of his intention to attend, the examining magistrate’s clerk must notify him by simple note, at the latest the day before the questioning.

The investigating judge directs the questioning, confrontations and hearings. The public prosecutor and the lawyers for the parties and the assisted witness may ask questions or make brief observations. The investigating judge determines, if necessary, the order of the interventions and may put an end to them when he considers himself sufficiently informed. He may object to questions that are likely to prejudice the proper conduct of the information or…

Where the person under investigation or the assisted witness is implicated by several persons, they may request, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 82-1 or the last paragraph of l’article 113-3, to be confronted separately with each of them. The examining magistrate decides on these requests in accordance with the second paragraph of article 82-1. The refusal of a request for individual confrontation may not be based solely…

The minutes of questioning and confrontation are drawn up in the forms provided for in articles 106 and 107. If an interpreter is used, the provisions of Article 102 shall apply. If the person under investigation is deaf, the examining magistrate shall automatically appoint a sign language interpreter or any qualified person who has mastered a language or method of communicating with the deaf to assist him/her during the hearing….