RIGHT TO LEGAL ASSISTANCE

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Access to justice is equal to everyone, regardless their religion, origin, education or financial status. Everyone has the right to receive a professional legal assistance of an attorney at law or a legal advisor.

If you are a victim of a crime and a party to the criminal proceeding, you have the right to establish your professional representative of an attorney or a legal advisor. The person will take care of your matters during the proceeding and may represent you if you decide to act as the subsidiary prosecutor (additional prosecutor apart from publicprosecutor).

At the stage of a preparatory proceeding (inquiry or investigation),you may have a court-appointed representative, if you cannot afford to pay for such an assistance. In such a case, you will have to prove that you cannot afford to cover the cost without negative financial consequences for you or your family.

The remuneration of an attorney or a legal advisor will then be covered by the State Treasury. If the case reached the stage of the court proceeding and you do not have a representative of your choice, upon your request the court can assign such a court-appointed representative. You need to know, that at that stage you do not have to fulfil any requirements that are applicable during the preparatory proceeding.

The representative may also be established for a specific action, e.g. to appeal the decision of the court of first instance.