Six in the morning, the doorbell, several people in the hallway. A house search is the most intimate intervention the state can make against a person, which is why the Charter and the Code of Criminal Procedure attach conditions to it that can be checked. Not later in court. Right at the door.
What the police must have in hand
- A written warrant from a judge with reasons. The police must present it to you. If the search is carried out as an "urgent act" before charges are brought, the warrant must explain why.
- Prior questioning. Before the search they are supposed to ask whether you will hand over the item they are looking for voluntarily. The request is not a formality; leaving it out is a defect.
- The presence of an independent person and your right to be present. A record of the search is drawn up, and you should read it, not just sign it.
What to do
Do not resist, but write everything down: who came, what they presented, what they took away. Sign nothing you do not understand. Call a defence lawyer, even if the police say "there's no time for that". There is always time, a search takes hours. And a defective warrant or a defective procedure can mean that what they found may not be taken into account.
What this rests on
No advice on this page is an opinion. Each one has a section of the law and a court decision behind it. Click through, the full text is on Europaius.
Statute
- § 82 tr. řádua house search only for the purposes of criminal proceedings, where there is reasonable suspicion that an item or person important for the proceedings is in the home
- § 83 tr. řáduonly a judge may order it, by a written reasoned warrant served at the search
- § 84 tr. řáduprior questioning: a request to hand over the item voluntarily
- § 85 tr. řáduconduct of the search, presence of the occupant and of an independent person; the record
Case law
- 6 Tdo 779/2024 (Nejvyšší soud, 30. 9. 2024)a home may not be entered without consent; a search is permissible only for criminal proceedings on a written reasoned warrant from a judge (Article 12 of the Charter)
- II. ÚS 3073/10 (Ústavní soud, 10. 3. 2011)a search warrant issued before charges must give reasons why the act is urgent and cannot be repeated
- IV. ÚS 1003/15 (Ústavní soud, 8. 6. 2015)the warrant should be presented to the person present; the scope of the search and the authority carrying it out must be clear from the warrant
A different situation?
- You or someone close to you has been detained
- Pre-trial detention is looming, or someone is already in it
- A police summons has arrived
- Criminal complaint: you want to file one, or one has been filed against you
- You have been charged with a criminal offence
- A penal order has arrived
- Alcohol or drugs behind the wheel, driving ban
- Plea agreement, conditional discontinuation
- You have become the victim of a crime
- European arrest warrant, extradition abroad
- Charged with embezzlement
- Disorderly conduct: a brawl, a pub, the street
- Dangerous threats and stalking
- You drove while banned from driving
- Charged with bodily harm
- Damage to property
- Violation of the inviolability of the home
- Defamation
- Conditional release from prison
- Negligent homicide: a fatal accident
- Credit fraud and subsidy fraud