You always have the right to self-paid legal aid. Sometimes legal aid will be provided and paid for by the State. You also have the right to meetings and confidential communication with your attorney at law.
Right to legal aid
When you are arrested, you have the right to legal aid. A detained person has the right to choose a lawyer and to consult with a lawyer already during the detention without the presence of a third party. A person has the right to request presence of a lawyer during interrogation, unless the lawyer of that person is unreachable. The police must explain this right to you immediately upon your arrest.
In Slovakia, only attorneys at law and their apprentices can defend you in criminal proceedings. An attorney at law can help you to challenge your arrest and to prepare your criminal case.
If you do not have an attorney at law at the moment of your arrest, you can ask the arresting officer to temporarily assign you an attorney who will be paid for by the state if you are an accused person.
Read more about defence in criminal proceedings.
Free legal aid
You always have the right to invite a self-paid attorney at law of your own choose. There is no general right to have free or state-paid attorney in every case of detention or arrest. You may have an attorney paid by the state only if you are arrested as an accused.
example If the police arrest people who took part in a fight at a night bar, not everyone is suspected or charged with a crime from the beginning. At a time when the police are only clarifying what actually happened and who is injured, who caused a fight and who is just a random participant, there is no reason for the state to pay a lawyer to everyone. This obligation of the state will occur to those persons who will be accused of a crime and also towards victims in some limited scope.
These are situations where an attorney at law will be provided and paid for by the state:
- You have not invited an attorney at law but the participation of an attorney is compulsory in the criminal proceedings.
- You have invited an attorney at law but for some reason he or she cannot participate in a procedural activity where the presence of an attorney is compulsory.
- You have not invited an attorney because you cannot afford to pay for one and you are in a position of an accused of a crime.
The procedure for assigning an attorney at law is explained in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Communication with an attorney at law
During your arrest period, you can meet with your attorney at law freely, without the special permission of the person directing the process and without time limits. The police must ensure circumstances where you can confidentially meet with your attorney at law. The police or other authorities must not listen to your conversation with the attorney at law.
Right to defend yourself
It is important to have an attorney at law who can help you to challenge your arrest and to prepare your criminal case, if it is being pursued. But, you also have the right to personally defend yourself. This means that you have the right not to use an attorney at law and use all the rights of defence on your own. Read more about the right to defend yourself.
What human rights violation may there be?
If you were not given a chance to invite an attorney at law and you could not, therefore, effectively challenge your arrest, it may result in a violation of the right to liberty and security of a person.
If you were not given a chance to invite an attorney at law and you could not, therefore, properly prepare your defence, there was non-permitted interference in your communication or you were not allowed to defend yourself where permitted, it may result in a violation of the right to fair trial.