Art. 200. The confession will be divisible and retractable, without prejudice to the judge’s free conviction, based on the examination of the evidence as a whole.
Divisibility and retractability of confession
Retractable confession: It means that the confessed defendant can go back in his confession, to totally or partially deny what he confessed. Since the right is guaranteed, the consequence is that the accused must be heard at any time to withdraw, if he so wishes. Unmotivated denial may result in nullity. The retraction is done through a new interrogation.
Divisible confession: Confession is not necessarily total. The respondent may, for example, confess to authorship, but claim self-defense. In the species, there was no confession of the crime, there was only the recognition of the typicality of the conduct, not of its unlawfulness. It is also divisible in the sense that the judge is authorized to consider the true part of the confession and the other part fictitious.
Free conviction: The confession is evaluated by the system of free appreciation of evidence based on: “The judge will form his conviction by free appreciation of the evidence produced in a judicial contradictory, not being able to base his decision exclusively on the information collected in the investigation, with the exception of precautionary evidence, non-repeatable and anticipated” ( article 155 ). In this system, the decision is reasoned (exposed reasons) and free in the examination of the test, with no pre-established values or hierarchy between them. On free conviction, see our notes to Article 155 .
