Generally speaking, you will be asked to swear or affirm that you are going to tell the truth, and that you understand the consequences of not telling the truth. Whether you do a whole ceremony about it or not, it doesn't really matter -- but the court will want to know that you are competent to testify truthfully and that you know that you're not allowed to testify to things you know aren't true.

If you're asking "can you be forced to testify?", the answer is "Yes but it depends." If you're competent to testify and the officers of the court deem your testimony important, they can subpoena your testimony. If you have a reason to contest it, you can -- but "I don't want to" isn't good enough.

[–] nx2@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Relevant Quora

https://www.quora.com/What-happens-if-you-say-no-to-the-oath-in-court

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 9 points 1 year ago

Not really. This is about ability, not willingness.

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't get to testify, I assume.

[–] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But what if you don't want to testify in the first place?

In Germany you're forced to testify anyways.

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure as I'm not a legal expert. I can say that if they know that you're not going to be honest, there's no reason for your testimony.

[–] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They can put charges on you for lying in court as a witness. You can get 6 months to 15 years in prison if you lie under outh.

And if you don't want to say anything as a witness, you also get detention for up to 6 months. Oh. And they have to pay for it.

Thats what I figured out after a quick Google search at least

In most cases they lie and say: "I really would want to testify, but I can't really remember anymore." and it's pretty hard to prove that their memory isn't shit.

[–] Tetsuo@jlai.lu 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just curious but how could you be forced to testify?

Do you mean you are forced to come to the stand and in court ?

[–] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Its illegal to not tell everything you know in court. If you say nothing, you might get sued. And if you say you don't know anything, you're fucked when another witness says you knew it.

There are only three exceptions:

You might get yourself in trouble, in that case you don't have to answer the question
It's a case against a family member in which case you also don't have to testify.
It would go against your professional secrecy

But you have to testify against a friend.

I just looked it up and it's exactly the same in the US. So you also can be force to testify in Murica

[–] Johanno@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't have to testify against your fianceé. So if you engage with your friend right before the court you don't have to testify. You can break up right after. Happens a lot apparently

[–] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

~~Nah. You have to testify against your fiancé. You just don't have to testify against your wife. So you need to marry.~~

Edit: Nvm, but you can't break up directly after that.

[–] krische@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Well I'd imagine I'd go like anytime someone doesn't follow a court order; you get jailed and/or fined in contempt of court.