Detention comes without warning and without a manual. One moment you are having an ordinary day, the next you are sitting in a room with no window while someone reads you your rights at a speed at which no rights can be understood. Meanwhile the family at home is calling numbers nobody answers and composing catastrophic scenarios in their heads.
The good news: at this point the detained person needs to do almost nothing. And that "almost nothing" is often the cleverest thing to do.
What a detained person is entitled to
- To choose a defence lawyer and talk to them without the police present. It is not a favour, it is the law.
- Not to testify. An accused person does not have to testify at all, and the fact that they stay silent may not be held against them. Silence is not a confession, even if it might feel that way in that room.
- To know what they are suspected of. The police must say so, and in a way that can be understood.
- To let a close person know that they have been detained. The family has the right to know where the person is.
How much time there is
The police must release a detained person within 48 hours, or hand them over to a court with a motion for pre-trial detention. The court then has 24 hours to decide. The detention hearing is the first moment a person's fate is decided in front of a judge, and the first moment a defence lawyer can really change something. The arguments against pre-trial detention have to be heard there, not a week later.
What the family can do
Choose a defence lawyer. The law expressly allows relatives to do so; they do not have to wait for the detained person to ask. The lawyer then contacts the police, finds out what is going on and will be present at the interview. In the meantime you can make yourself a cup of tea. Seriously: catastrophic scenarios are harder to assemble over tea.
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
- § 76 tr. řádudetention of a suspect by the police and the suspect's rights
- § 77 tr. řádurelease within 48 hours, or hand over to a court; the judge decides within 24 hours
- § 37 tr. řádua defence lawyer may also be chosen for the accused by a relative, spouse, partner or cohabitant
- § 33 tr. řáduthe accused has the right not to testify and it may not be held against them
Case law
- II. ÚS 1594/07 (Ústavní soud, 8. 11. 2007)prolonging detention beyond 48 hours circumvents the law and interferes with personal liberty under Article 8(3) of the Charter
- 6 Tdo 1248/2009 (Nejvyšší soud, 17. 2. 2010)a detained person who is not released must be given a reasonable time to choose a defence lawyer; otherwise one is appointed
- III. ÚS 655/06 (Ústavní soud, 23. 5. 2007)the nemo tenetur principle: nobody may be forced into active conduct that would contribute to their own conviction
- II. ÚS 1856/07 (Ústavní soud, 19. 3. 2008)exercising the right not to testify may not be held against the accused, not even as "fault" for their own prosecution
Related cases
- Přišel dobrovolně, čekal na chodbě, kouřil. Pak ho zadrželi. 2019 (in Czech)
- Zadržený byl v moci policie. S důvody ho seznámili až později. 2007 (in Czech)
A different situation?
- 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
- 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