In criminal cases it often happens that the allegation of a victim stands against the denial of the alleged perpetrator and that there is not enough additional information to simply choose between the two versions. However, before bringing a case to court the prosecution must make a choice. This may be done by cherry-picking from among the available, often contradictory pieces of evidence in such a way that the indictment contains a coherent story of the suspect's guilt. All other pieces of evidence are assumed to be irrelevant or untrue, or are simply ignored. This chapter is concerned with the risks of such selective use of evidence in criminal trials as they are conducted in the inquisitorial manner, in use in most countries in continental Europe. Under the inquisitorial system of criminal justice, an extensive case file is compiled by the prosecution prior to the actual trial, containing all evidence collected by the police in the form of written depositions. The defence is not supposed to collect evidence on its own, but can ask the prosecuting attorney and/or investigating judge to investigate certain aspects or to interview particular witnesses and to add such additional findings in written form to the case file. Invariably, the preponderance of documents entered into the case file is supplied by the prosecution. It will be argued that in the adversarial system, used in most Anglo-American countries, many cases reflect the same practice.

The case of Goran Radic: Mileva's story

Goran Radic, a 62-year-old Dutch national of Yugoslav origin, was accused by Mileva Simic, a 27-year-old member of a Roma family living illegally in the country, of forcibly detaining her in his house and of beating and raping her repeatedly. According to Mileva, in early September 1999 she received a phone call from Goran Radic, whom she had never met before. He told her that ‘someone’ had given him her telephone number, telling him that she might be available as a companion. He said he already loved her and wanted her to come live with him. If she would not agree to this, he would kill her.

This is a surprising sequence of events, even more surprising because Mileva decided to accept Radic’ invitation.