An envelope with a summons can ruin an otherwise pleasant week. You read it a third time and still do not know whether you are a witness, a suspect, or just someone who was in the right place at the wrong time. The police usually will not say on paper. They have their reasons.
Worth knowing before you go
- You can come with a lawyer. Both to give an explanation and to an interview. It is your right, not a sign of distrust, whatever the officer may say about it. But the police will not arrange one for you; you have to bring your own.
- You can refuse to give an explanation if by doing so you could expose yourself or a close person to criminal prosecution. This right exists to be used.
- Read the whole record. You have the right to demand a correction of every sentence that does not sound like you. What you sign, stands.
- Not going is not an option. Failure to appear can mean a procedural fine, or being brought in by the police. That tends to be more unpleasant than the meeting itself.
Why to get in touch earlier than the day before
Before the date, it is possible to go through what the matter is most likely about and what follows from it for you. To agree what to say, what not to say and when to look for a defence lawyer. Then you do not go to the police alone, and that is a difference you notice at the door.
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
- § 158 tr. řádugiving an explanation: the right to legal assistance from a lawyer, the right to refuse to give an explanation
- § 66 tr. řádua procedural fine for anyone who fails to appear without excuse
Case law
- 8 Tdo 335/2018 (Nejvyšší soud, 25. 4. 2018)when giving an explanation, everyone has the right to legal assistance from a lawyer (§ 158(5)); the police, however, do not arrange it
- I. ÚS 2646/08 (Ústavní soud, 2. 2. 2009)the right to have a lawyer present, yes, but their absence is no reason not to come; appearing is a duty, testifying is not always
- III. ÚS 655/06 (Ústavní soud, 23. 5. 2007)the ban on compelled self-incrimination applies even before prosecution is opened
Related cases
- Chtěl advokátku u podání vysvětlení. Dostal pokutu 20 000 Kč. 2019 (in Czech)
A different situation?
- You or someone close to you has been detained
- Pre-trial detention is looming, or someone is already in it
- 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
- 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