WHO IS WHO

JUDGE

A professional lawyer who was appointed to serve as a judge by the President of the Czech Republic. As an expert they decides on some cases on their own, in other cases in bench, to reach a decision whether there was enough evidence gathered within criminal proceedings that a criminal offence has been committed, based on which it is possible to reach a conclusion that a particular perpetrator committed  a specific criminal offence. In such case the judge will bring in the verdict that the perpetrator is guilty of a specific act and they will decide at the same time what punishment will be imposed on the perpetrator. The judge wears a dark judge's gown during the judicial proceedings which has a dark violet collar. The judge pronounces judgment on their own in cases of less serious criminal offences, which are punishable by imprisonment up to five years maximum as set out by law. In cases of other criminal offences they pronounce judgment jointly with two other judges = non-experts in bench. The judge directs the course of criminal proceedings at court and they also decides which witnesses will be heard within the judicial proceedings. During the hearing they establishes the identity of summoned witness, whom they will caution about the rights and duties of a witness within judicial proceedings. Then they will ask the witness to describe the course of criminal offence in their own words, as they can remember it. Subsequently they will ask additional questions in such way that they find out as accurately as possible how the committed criminal offence happened and what consequence it had. After the judge has inquired into all circumstances of the given act, there is room for other persons to ask questions, these include members of bench, public prosecutor and perpetrator’s solicitor. Also the perpetrator will be given opportunity to ask the witness questions or comment on their testimony. The judge supervises this to prevent the asked questions from being leading or inappropriate in a different way. At the end of examination the judge will ask the witness whether they incurred any special expenses for attending the court hearing (see more information under reimbursement for substantial expences). After the judge has completed the examination of the witness, the witness can either leave the court or take a seat in the courtroom and observe the following course of judicial proceedings. The witness is free to make a decision about the above choices.

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PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

A lawyer who was appointed to serve as a public prosecutor by the Minister of Justice. Public prosecutor has a number of roles within the stages of criminal proceedings, he supervises preliminary criminal proceedings, brings charges against the perpetrator of criminal offences and represents the prosecution at court in particular. Public prosecutor has an important role in the first stage of criminal proceedings which includes preliminary proceedings, where the police gathers complete evidence related to guilt of the specific perpetrator. At this stage the public prosecutor supervises the police and ensures its actions are in compliance with the law and that the police perform all stages that will lead to a clarification of the criminal offence the perpetrator committed. Public prosecutor attends the trial, he reads out the charges against the specific perpetrator and he leads the prosecution during the judicial proceedings in such way that it is possible to prove the perpetrator’s guilt. At the end of the judicial proceedings the public prosecutor has room for a closing argument in which they will summarize all substantial circumstance which was ascertained, and proposes the type of punishment and length of term of imprisonment for the perpetrator. After judgement has been announced for a particular perpetrator, the public prosecutor can appeal against it to superior court in case they disagree with it. During the judicial proceedings the public prosecutor sits at judge’s or bench’s right and wear a dark gown with a wine-coloured shawl collar.

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POLICE OFFICER

The police is a body whose assignment includes (among others) investigation of individual criminal offences the police may learn about, not only those that were reported to the police but also those committed criminal offences the police learns about from its own sources. Police officers examine all information and secure evidence within the preliminary proceedings, both in the examination and investigation stages, in such way that the criminal offence committed by the perpetrator can be proved.

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PERPETRATOR, REFERRED TO UNDER CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGSAS THE ACCUSED, DEFENDANT OR CONVICT

Perpetrator is the person who committed a criminal offence. They may be called differently at individual stages of criminal proceedings, yet this is still the same person. The suspect:  refers to a likely perpetrator during the examination stage. The accused: refers to a perpetrator accused of committing a specific criminal offence, at the stage of investigation until the moment when criminal prosecution is opened against this person. The defendant: refers to a perpetrator during the judicial proceedings, after the trial date has been set, when the criminal case in question will be heard at the court, where the charges have been sent to. The convict: after the court has ultimately decided on perpetrator’s guilt and on the type and term of their punishment and the judgement has become final and conclusive, the perpetrator is referred to as the convict. Perpetrator has a number of rights and duties available, which arise from their procedural position within the criminal proceedings. For more information on these rights and duties please read Act N.141 / 1961 Coll., the code of criminal procedure, as amended.

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SOLICITOR OF THE PERPETRATOR OF CRIMINAL OFFENCE

The perpetrator of a criminal offence has the right to be represented during the criminal proceedings by a solicitor, i.e. professional lawyer. They defend the accused person during criminal proceedings and ensure that the perpetrator makes use of all their rights under the code of criminal procedure. Solicitor can ask all witnesses questions, request that further witnesses are heard, they can submit documentary or other evidence, e.g. real evidence. Solicitor is obligated to make all actions for the benefit of their client. The perpetrator can choose their solicitor as per their free decision and at their own cost. In case of more serious crimes the perpetrator must have a solicitor at all times. If they fail to choose a solicitor in such case, the solicitor will be determined for them by court, this is referred to as compulsory defence or an ex offo solicitor, the costs being covered by the state. During the judicial proceedings the defendant’s solicitor wears a dark gown with a navy jabot and always sits on the left off the judge along with the defendant.

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CRIME VICTIM

Crime victim is also referred to as the injured party under the Czech Criminal Law and they are entitled to a number of rights during the criminal proceedings. The current legal regulation defines the injured party as a person who suffered a bodily harm as a result of criminal offence, who suffered a damage to property or non-proprietary loss, or someone to whose detriment the perpetrator of criminal offence enriched him/herself. Particularly vulnerable victims include a child, a severely physically handicapped person, crime victim of human trafficking and a victim of crime against human dignity in sexual area or criminal offence which included violence or threat of violence with an increased danger of secondary damage. These persons are treated with increased protection (e.g. when providing explanation and examination). Contrary to the above, persons who feel to have been morally damaged or damaged in other ways by a criminal offence but the damage they incurred has not been caused by the perpetrator’s fault, or its origin has no causal relation to the criminal offence, are not considered an “injured party”. The injured party is entitled among others to make petitions for taking of additional evidence and have access to the files, they have the right to attend the trial, they are also entitled to submitting motion that the court imposes an obligation to the defendant in the convicting judgment to reimburse the damages that they caused to the injured party. The motion to compensation for damages along with its specification must be submitted at the trial before the court has opened the evidence proceedings at the latest, i.e. after the public prosecutor has read out the charges and before the court has started hearing the defendant. The motion must state what amount and for what reason the claim to compensation is put forward at the court.

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REPRESENTATIVE (REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INJURED IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS)

The injured party has the right to be represented during criminal proceedings by a representative who they have chosen and awarded with the power of attorney. A representative can be any person who has complete legal competence; it can be both a lawyer as well as a non-professional, who does not have detailed education in the field of law. A representative can therefore also be a family member, neighbour, friend or other person whom the injured party trusts. Representative cannot be, however, a person who has the role of a witness, expert or interpreter in the given criminal case. Representative is entitled to file motions on behalf of the injured party, at the police as well as at court; they can file applications or remedial measures, they can attend all procedural acts which the injured party can attend themselves. Apart from this they provide moral, psychological or legal aid and support to the injured party. The representative cannot, however, on principle testify at court instead of the injured party.

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WITNESS

Witness is a person who had the opportunity to perceive the circumstances of the committed criminal offence, in some cases criminal offence was committed on them directly. During criminal proceedings the witness testifies about the circumstances of the committed criminal offence which is being discussed, about what they had the opportunity to see, hear or perceive in another way. As opposed to the perpetrator of a criminal offence, the witness has a duty to always give truthful testimony. The witness also has a duty to appear at the respective law enforcement authority upon being summoned and testify, i.e. to act as a witness. The witness can be exempt from this duty only in cases expressly stated in law specified by Section 100 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Witness can refuse to testify in two cases, specified below: 1.) If they are a relative to the accused person in direct line of descent, their siblings, adoptive parent, adoptive child, husband, partner or cohabitant; 2.) If their testimony could put themselves, their relative in direct line of descent, their siblings, adoptive parent, adoptive child, husband, partner or cohabitant or other persons in family relationship or similar, whose harm they could rightfully feel as their own harm, into danger of criminal prosecution. Each witness must always be warned beforehand about their right to refuse to give testimony within the criminal proceedings. If the witness is summoned to give testimony at court it is important that they have their ID card or another proof of identity, their notice to appear, which the witness received from court, or documentary evidence which they were called to produce at court as a witness or those that they want to produce at court on their own. If the witness is an injured party in the criminal proceedings at the same time, it is important that they also bring along the assessed amount of damages.

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EXPERT WITNESS

Expert witness is a person, who has not perceived the circumstances of the committed criminal offence with their own senses, but they are an expert in the specific field, on which they are to comment in relation to the criminal offence. Law enforcement authorities, i.e. the police, public prosecutor or court will ask for an expert opinion to be produced  to determine the investigated criminal activity provided they do not dispose of the required expertise in the specific field, e.g. in economics, in determining a price for an object, in health services, forensic medicine, psychiatry, ballistics, graphology and other fields. The expert passes a judgment on the particular circumstances of given case from a professional point of view.

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INTERPRETER

Interpreter is a person who interprets during criminal proceedings, or translates documents for persons who speak other language/s than Czech, declare they do not understand Czech and that they insist on a translation of the documents in question.

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PROFESSIONAL ASSIGNED TO SUPPORT VICTIMS OF CRIMINAL OFFENCES

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs subsidise the work of subjects providing support to victims of criminal offences by means of grants from the state budget. Subject intending to provide support to crime victims and acquire a grant from the state budget must get accredited in one or both of the services, those being a) providing legal information and b) restorative justice services. Psychological and social counselling can be provided to crime victims by licensed subjects which were authorised to provide social counselling and social prevention services on the basis of registration decision in accordance with the law concerning provision of social services. In the Czech Republic the support to victims is provided by non-governmental organisations, with Bílý kruh bezpečí being at the top of providing complex services to crime victims (see www.bkb.cz).

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COURT OFFICER, HEAD OF OFFICE, SENIOR COURT OFFICER

Court officer ensures the administrative operations of the court. Head of office is a court officer with lower education level whose responsibility is to handle individual files and they also perform other tasks such as dispatching postal items, keeping transcripts from the hearings etc. Senior court officer is also partially educated in the field of law and apart from administrative operations they also perform deeds, particularly simpler legal decisions that require legal competence, however, always under instructions from the respective judge.

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CONFIDANT

Crime victim has the right to be accompanied by a confidant to acts of criminal proceedings and to provide explanation. A confidant can be a person of victim’s choice having legal capacity. Confidant provides the victim with much needed support, especially psychological. A confidant may also be the victim’s lawyer. A person who plays a part of a defendant, attorney, witness, legal expert or interpreter may not be a confidant at the same time.  Confidant accompanies the victim, s/he serves as the victim’s “eyes and ears”, the representative can also act on victim’s behalf, therefore serve as the victim’s “mouth” as well.

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