Section 131a
[Notice to Determine Whereabouts]
(1) A notice may be issued requiring determination of the whereabouts of an accused or of a witness if his whereabouts are not known.
(2) Subsection (1) shall also apply to notices referring to the accused so far as they are necessary for securing a driver’s licence, for identification measures, for carrying out a DNA analysis or for establishing his identity.
(3) A public search may also be ordered in the case of a criminal offence of substantial significance on the basis of a notice requiring determination of the whereabouts of an accused or of a witness if the accused is strongly suspected of having committed the offence and where other means of determining his whereabouts would offer much less prospect of success or be much more difficult.
(4) Section 131 subsection (4) shall apply mutatis mutandis. When determining the whereabouts of a witness it shall be made clear that the person sought is not the accused. There shall be no public search where overriding interests of the witness meriting protection present an obstacle thereto. Pictures of the witness may be used only where other means of determining his whereabouts would offer no prospect of success or be much more difficult.
(5) Notices pursuant to subsections (1) and (2) may be issued in all search instruments used by the criminal prosecuting authorities.
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