Constitution_Of_Botswana.TXT
(b)
that is reasonably required for the purpose of protecting the rights
or freedoms of other persons;
(c)
that authorizes an officer or agent of the Government of Botswana, a
local government authority or a body corporate established by law for a public
purpose to enter on the premises of any person in order to inspect those premises or
anything thereon for the purpose of any tax, rate or duty or in order to carry out
work connected with any property that is lawfully on those premises and that belongs
to that Government, authority or body corporate, as the case may be; or
(d)
that authorizes, for the purpose of enforcing the judgment or order
of a court in any civil proceedings, the search of any person or property by order
of a court or entry upon any premises by such order,
and except so far as that provision or, as the case may be, anything done under the
authority thereof is shown not to be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.
[Ch0000s10] 10. Provisions to secure protection of law
(1) If any person is charged with a criminal offence, then, unless the
charge is withdrawn, the case shall be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable
time by an independent and impartial court established or recognized by law.
(2) Every person who is charged with a criminal offence(a)
shall be presumed to be innocent until he or she is proved or has
pleaded guilty;
(b)
shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable, in a language
that he or she understands and in detail, of the nature of the offence charged;
(c)
shall be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of
his or her defence;
(d)
shall be permitted to defend himself or herself before the court in
person or, at his or her own expense, by a legal representative of his or her own
choice;
(e)
shall be afforded facilities to examine in person or by his or her
legal representative the witnesses called by the prosecution before the court, and
to obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on
his or her behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to
witnesses called by the prosecution; and
(f)
shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an
interpreter if he or she cannot understand the language used at the trial of the
charge,
and except with his or her own consent the trial shall not take place in his or her
absence unless he or she so conducts himself or herself as to render the continuance
of the proceedings in his or her presence impracticable and the court has ordered
him or her to be removed and the trial to proceed in his or her absence.
(3) When a person is tried for any criminal offence, the accused person or
any person authorized by him or her in that behalf shall, if he or she so requires
and subject to payment of such reasonable fee as may be prescribed by law, be given
within a reasonable time after judgment a copy for the use of the accused person of
any record of the proceedings made by or on behalf of the court.
(4) No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of
any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an
offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence that is severer in
degree or description than the maximum penalty that might have been imposed for that
offence at the time when it was committed.
(5) No person who shows that he or she has been tried by a competent court
for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted shall again be tried for
that offence or for any other criminal offence of which he or she could have been
convicted at the trial for that offence, save upon the order of a superior court in
the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal.
(6) No person shall be tried for a criminal offence if he or she shows that
he or she has been pardoned for that offence.
(7) No person who is tried for a criminal offence shall be compelled to give
evidence at the trial.
(8) No person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence
is defined and the penalty therefor is prescribed in a written law:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall prevent a court of record
from punishing any person for contempt of itself notwithstanding that the act or
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