The ruling opening criminal prosecution is a document that does not read well. Your name, below it a section number, below that a description of the act written in a language in which even buying bread rolls sounds like organised crime. It does not mean you are guilty. It means the police believe they have enough to charge you, and that from now on proceedings are running in which your future will be decided.
It also means that from now on you have the rights of an accused person. Which, oddly enough, is more rights than before.
What to do straight away
- Complaint within 3 days. A complaint can be filed against the ruling opening prosecution. The deadline is short and the court knows no other length. The complaint can be filed "blank" and the reasons added later, but even then there is no time to lose.
- Do not testify unprepared. You have the right to testify only after consulting your defence lawyer, or not at all. An interview is not an exam you have to pass at the first attempt.
- Look into the case file. Your defence lawyer has the right to study the file. Only then do you know what the police actually have against you. It is often less than the ruling makes it look. Occasionally more.
How the defence proceeds
Read the file, propose evidence in your favour, be present at every interview and in court. If the nature of the matter allows, also consider the routes that end without a judgment: conditional discontinuation of prosecution, settlement, a plea agreement. You know about every step before it is taken. Surprises are for the other side.
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
- § 160 tr. řáducriminal prosecution is opened by a ruling against which a complaint is admissible
- § 143 tr. řádudeadline for the complaint: three days from notification of the ruling
- § 33 tr. řádurights of the accused: not to testify, to choose a defence lawyer, to consult them even during procedural acts
- § 65 tr. řáduaccess to the case file by the accused and the defence lawyer
- § 36 tr. řádumandatory defence: when the accused must have a defence lawyer (pre-trial detention, higher sentencing ranges and more)
Case law
- II. ÚS 1182/19 (Ústavní soud, 12. 11. 2019)a blank complaint may be supplemented; before deciding, the public prosecutor should check whether the supplement has arrived
- 3 Tdo 953/2012 (Nejvyšší soud, 29. 8. 2012)mandatory defence begins with the opening of prosecution; in pre-trial detention, the duty to have a defence lawyer arises on being taken into detention
- 3 Tdo 936/2021 (Nejvyšší soud, 8. 9. 2021)the accused has a constitutional right not to testify and to testify only at the main trial
Related cases
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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
- A penal order has arrived
- Alcohol or drugs behind the wheel, driving ban
- Plea agreement, conditional discontinuation
- House search
- 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