Versiones rendidas antes del juicio oral: características, reglas de incorporación y valoración en el sistema procesal penal colombiano (ley 906 de 2004)

Abstract

The present investigation is about the incidence and the probative value of the previous versions provided by the witnesses before the trial in the criminal process, which by means of investigative acts are collected in the investigation by the investigative groups for orientation of The parties in order to develop their theory of the case. In that order, these previous exposition, become part of the body of evidence which are used by the procedural subjects at the oral hearing, but that, from now, it should be said, that these are not constitute as independent means of proof, only as proof of reference in criminal proceedings, However, it is observed that previous versions are, sometimes, these are used wrongly within the trial, incurring in procedural errors, for example: allow introduce and value within of the process previous versions as autonomous probative element, or not introduce ,nor to evaluate a previous version as reference proof, being this essential, or to issue a sentence based only in reference proof. These errors of appreciation and assessment that are presented, are almost always by ignorance that have of the production of the proof in the trial, that is to say, it is unknown the true evidentiary value of the evidence that these cover. Thus the things, this improper use of previous expositions in the trial, causes serious violations of fundamental guarantees on procedural subjects, which entail, are some cases, lead to procedural nullities, and in others, the change of the primary decision or Secondary, either by the courts or the Supreme Court respectively. Therefore, it is important to clarify, in what circumstances the previous versions may have a probative effect in the criminal process.