Defendants (criminal proceedings)

Czechia

Content provided by:
Czechia

A. Where will the judicial proceedings take place?

Depending on the seriousness of the crime, the judicial proceedings will take place either at a district court or at a regional court in whose circuit the crime was committed. If the place of the crime cannot be determined or if the crime was committed abroad, the proceedings will be held at the court in whose circuit you live, work or stay; if these places cannot be determined or are outside the territory of the Czech Republic, the proceedings will be conducted by the court in whose circuit the act came to light (was ascertained).

B. Can the charge change? If so, have I a right of information in this regard?

The sole objective of the trial is to decide which act or deed forms the subject of the charge. Once the charge has been filed, the public prosecutor cannot change it; it may only be withdrawn.

If the results of the trial indicate a substantial change in the circumstances of the case or if further investigation is necessary to clarify the case, or if it turns out that you have committed another act or deed which constitutes a crime and the public prosecutor calls for the case to be referred back owing to the need for a joint hearing, the court will refer the case back to the preparatory process. The public prosecutor will then file a new charge, which will reflect the changes that have occurred. A new copy of the charge will always be served on you and your defence counsel, no later than with the summons or notification thereof. You will be served with a copy of the charge along with advice of the chamber’s president regarding your right to comment on the facts set out in the charge within the time limit set by the president, in particular:

  • whether you feel innocent or guilty of committing the act or any of the acts referred to in the charge and on what grounds;
  • whether you wish to enter into an agreement on guilt and punishment with the public prosecutor or whether you want to plead guilty at the trial;
  • whether you agree with the description of the act and the legal classification thereof, and with the proposed sentence or preventive measure; and
  • which facts you consider to be uncontested.

The chamber’s president will also inform you of the consequences of such statements as well as of the fact that your defence counsel may also provide statements concerning the charge on your behalf, except for a confession or plea of guilt.

The president will also invite you to inform the court in due time of the requests for further evidence-taking at the trial, and indicate the circumstances to be clarified by that evidence.

However, the court is not bound by the legal classification of the act or deed as indicated in the charge and may classify the act as some other crime (less or more serious), or may conclude that the act does not constitute a crime, but rather a minor offence. If the court considers the act to be a crime more severely punishable than the one for which the charge was filed, the court must inform you of the change and ensure that you have the opportunity to respond in your defence to the change and have sufficient time to change your defence.

C. What rights have I during a court hearing?

You have the right to:

  • be advised by the law-enforcement authorities of your rights and be able to fully exercise those rights;
  • confess, plead guilty or submit a proposal for an agreement on guilt and punishment before evidence is taken;
  • comment on the accusations made against you;
  • refuse to testify;
  • inspect the files, take extracts and notes from the files, and make copies of the files or parts thereof at your own expense;
  • participate in the hearing of the case during the trial itself and during public hearings;
  • make a closing statement during the trial and at a public hearing of the appeal;
  • get the last word at the trial;
  • present facts and adduce evidence in your defence;
  • comment on each piece of evidence taken and object to the manner in which it is taken;
  • ask questions to the persons being examined;
  • make requests and proposals (as regards the taking of evidence and the manner in which the decision will be made);
  • seek judicial remedy both ordinary (i.e. complaints, appeals, statements of opposition) and extraordinary (i.e. applications for revision, applications for appellate review) or suggest that a complaint concerning infringement of the law should be filed;
  • choose a defence counsel (if you do not choose a counsel yourself, a defence counsel can be chosen for you, e.g. by a family member) and ask the counsel for advice also during the acts carried out by the law-enforcement authority itself;
  • speak with your defence counsel without the presence of a third party;
  • ask to be interrogated in the presence of your defence counsel and ask for your counsel to participate in each act of the criminal proceedings;
  • use your mother tongue or another language that you master before the law-enforcement authorities if you declare that you do not master the Czech language.

i. Must I appear in court? Under what conditions may I be absent from the court?

The trial itself can only take place in your absence if the court considers that the case can be reliably decided and the purpose of the criminal proceedings achieved even in your absence, and

  • you have been duly served with the charge and you have been summoned to the trial properly and in good time; and
  • you have already been interrogated by the law-enforcement authority in respect of the act or deed which is the subject of the charge, the legal provision on the start of criminal prosecution has been complied with, and you have been advised of the possibility of inspecting the file and propose motions to supplement the investigation.

The summons must contain advice on the consequences of not attending the trial.

The trial may therefore take place in your absence, but not if

  • you are in custody;
  • you are serving a custodial sentence;
  • the case concerns a crime punishable by imprisonment of more than five years.

However, even in such cases you need not be present at the trial if you expressly ask the court to hold the trial in your absence, unless your personal presence is deemed necessary by the court.

In cases of mandatory defence, the trial cannot be held without the presence of your defence counsel.

ii. Have I the right to an interpreter and to translations of documents? To what extent?

If you declare that you do not master the Czech language, you are entitled to use in your communication with the law-enforcement authorities your mother tongue or the language you claim to master.

If there is then a need to interpret the content of a document, testimony or any other procedural act, or if you declare that you do not master the Czech language, an interpreter will be appointed to interpret the acts of the criminal proceedings. At your request, the appointed interpreter may also interpret your consultation with a defence counsel if the consultation is directly related to procedural acts; the interpreter may also interpret any consultation during procedural acts.

In such a case, the law-enforcement authorities must provide written translation of the documents defined in law (e.g. remand order, judgment, penal order, decision on appeal, etc.); you can waive this right to translation.

You have the right to ask the court to translate or interpret in addition any other document that is relevant in terms of the exercise of your right of defence.

iii. Have I the right to a defence counsel?

  • If you are accused of having committed a crime, you have the right to a defence counsel. If you do not choose a defence counsel yourself, a family member may choose a counsel for you or you may defend yourself on your own. In certain cases, however, you must have a defence counsel (this is known as ‘mandatory defence’); in such a case the judge will assign you a defence counsel unless you choose one of your own within a specified time limit. You must have a defence counsel in judicial proceedings until the decision with which the proceedings end becomes final:
    • if you are remanded in custody, serving a prison sentence or subject to a preventive measure associated with deprivation of liberty, or under observation in a medical institute;
    • if your legal capacity has been restricted (e.g. owing to a mental disorder);
    • in proceedings against a fugitive (if you have absconded and the proceedings are being conducted in your absence);
    • if the proceedings concern a crime punishable by imprisonment with the upper range exceeding five years;
    • if the court considers this necessary because, in the light of your current situation, the court has doubts as to your capacity to defend yourself properly;
    • if you are a young offender (between 15 and 18 years of age);
    • at the trial if you are detained;
    • in proceedings concerning the imposition or changing the terms of secure preventive detention, or imposition or changing the terms of forensic treatment, with the exception of institutional forensic treatment of alcoholism;
  • You must have a defence counsel in the enforcement procedure where the court decides in a public hearing if:
    • your legal capacity has been restricted;
    • you are in custody;
    • there are doubts about your ability to defend yourself properly.
  • In proceedings concerning extraordinary remedies (complaints regarding infringements of the law, applications for appellate review, applications for revision), you must have a defence counsel:
    • if you are remanded in custody, serving a prison sentence or subject to a preventive measure associated with deprivation of liberty, or under observation in a medical institute;
    • if your legal capacity has been restricted;
    • if this is a crime punishable by imprisonment with the upper range exceeding five years;
    • if there are doubts about your ability to defend yourself properly.
  • In proceedings concerning a crime punishable by imprisonment with the upper range exceeding five years, you may waive the right to a defence counsel unless the crime is punishable by an exceptional sentence (life sentence or imprisonment exceeding 20 years up to 30 years). You can also waive your right to a defence counsel if you are detained and the trial is due to take place.

iv. What other procedural rights should be known about (e.g. presentation of suspects before court)?

Everybody sits in their places throughout the trial. Questions and statements can only be asked/made with the chamber’s president’s (sole judge’s) consent; you must stand up when you address the judge, even in the shortest of speeches (however, the president may allow persons whose age or health so require to remain seated in delivering both their speeches and testimonies). The chamber’s president (the sole judge) will invite everybody present to hear the operative part of the judgment while standing up. In Czech, both the judicial persons and other persons present are to address each other by adding pane/paní/slečno (‘Mr/Mrs/Miss’) before the addressed person’s function or position in the process (e.g. pane předsedo, pane přísedící, pane doktore, paní státní zástupkyně, pane znalče, pane svědku, etc. when addressing the chamber’s president, the lay judge, the defence counsel, a lawyer/doctor, the public prosecutor, the expert, the witness, respectively). It is not permitted to speak in the courtroom without the chamber’s president’s (sole judge’s) consent or to eat, drink or smoke, including during a break. The persons present in the courtroom must refrain from anything that could disrupt the course or dignity of the court hearing, including expressions of content or discontent about the course of the hearing, witness statements, the decisions pronounced, etc. All devices (especially mobile telephones) should also be switched off if they could disturb the course and dignity of the hearing.

Image or sound transmissions may be carried out and visual recordings may be made during a court hearing only with the chamber’s president’s (sole judge’s) prior consent. Audio recordings may be made with the chamber’s president’s or the sole judge’s knowledge; where the manner in which they are made could disturb the course or dignity of the hearing, the chamber’s president or the sole judge may prohibit the recording.

Weapons are not allowed in the court room.

D. Possible penalties

  • house arrest;
  • community service;
  • forfeiture of assets;
  • fine;
  • forfeiture of a thing;
  • prohibition of activities;
  • ban on keeping and farming animals;
  • exclusion order;
  • ban on attending sports, cultural and other social events;
  • loss of titles of honours or awards;
  • loss of military rank;
  • removal.

Preventive measures are measures that are of preventive nature and, unlike punishments, can also be imposed e.g. for acts that would otherwise be punishable in the case of persons who are not criminally liable due to insanity or minor age. Preventive measures can be imposed either separately or in addition to a punishment, subject to fulfilment of all the conditions laid down by law. Protective measures include:

  • forensic treatment;
  • secure preventive detention;
  • confiscation of things;
  • confiscation of part of assets;
  • protective education.
Last update: 20/03/2023

The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective Member State. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. The European Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.