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3) persons who would by their statements violate the duty of maintaining confidentialityof information acquired in a professional capacity (religious confessors, lawyers,physicians, midwives, etc.), unless released from such obligation by a special regulationor a statement of the person for whose benefit the confidentiality was established;4) authorised officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in respect of the notices receivedwithin the meaning of Article 226 and Article 235 paragraph 2 of this Code.Article 98(1) The following shall be exempt from the duty to give evidence:1) the accused person’s spouse or common-law spouse or other person withwhom the accused lives in an extramarital or other lasting association;2) the accused person’s lineal relatives by blood, collateral relatives up to thethird degree, and relations by marriage to the second degree;3) adopter and adoptees of the accused person.(2) The court conducting the proceedings is required to notify the persons referred to inparagraph 2 of this Article, before they are questioned or as soon as it learns about theirrelationship with the accused person, that they do not have to testify. The caution andthe response shall be entered in the record.(3) Juveniles who are in view of their age and mental development not capable ofunderstanding the significance of the right not to have to testify may not be questionedas witnesses, except where the accused person so demands.(4) Persons with valid grounds to decline to testify in connection with one of the accusedpersons shall be relieved of the duty to testify in connection with all the other accusedpersons, if by the nature of things their testimony cannot be limited only to the otheraccused persons.Article 99Where a person who cannot be questioned as a witness (Article 97) or a person whodoes not have to testify (Article 98) has been questioned, and had not been cautionedaccordingly and had not waived the respective right, or where the caution and waiverhad not been entered in the record, or where a juvenile who cannot understand thesignificance of the right not to have to testify has been questioned, or where testimony ofwitnesses has been obtained by the use of force, threats and other similar prohibitedmeans (Article 131 paragraph 4), the court may not base its decision on such testimony.Article 100Witnesses are not required to answer certain questions where it is likely that they wouldthereby expose themselves or the persons referred to in Article 98 paragraph 1 of thisCode to acute disgrace, substantial material damages or criminal prosecution.