How do you complain about conditions in the place of arrest and ask for compensation?
When arrested you are held in a temporary place of detention, so called a cell of police detention (in Slovak cela policajného zaistenia). You have the right to be held in conditions that are not inhumane or degrading. Read more about the conditions in the place of detention.
Complaint to the police
If you believe that the conditions in the cell of police detention violated your rights, you can complain about this to the head of the police department where you are held in writing or in oral. Your oral motions, suggestions and complaints shall be drafted and submitted to the head of the police department by the police officer, who performs the protection of the cell. The head of the department will decide on the issue.
If it is not possible to seek improvement of your conditions within the police department, you may turn to other national bodies that monitor conditions in places with restrictions on personal freedom.
Complaints to the Public Prosecutor's Office
The most important of such national authority is the Public Prosecutor's Office, which oversees the legality of conditions in places of restriction of personal freedom, including cells of police detention. In this regard, it is possible for a detained person to file a complaint about the conditions of detention with the locally competent regional prosecutor's office, whose prosecutors are authorised to enter police premises, communicate with the complainant and investigate the actual conditions of detention.
The law does not stipulate deadlines or a precise procedural rules for performing this supervision.
Complaints to the Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsperson)
The treatment of persons deprived of their personal liberty may also be the subject of a complaint addressed to the Office of the Public Defender of Rights. The Ombudsperson is entitled to visit facilities where personal liberty is restricted and to act in order to investigate the treatment of persons in custody, to ascertain the state of affairs and to recommend remedial action to the competent authorities. The complaint should describe as concretely as possible the facts which, in your opinion, infringed your law during the detention.
The Act on the Public Defender of Rights does not provide time limits for the Public Defender of Rights to process complaints. The speed of the investigation depends on the amount of information provided, the urgency and the complexity of the matter. In order for your complaint to be assessed urgently, it is necessary to state specific facts and actions that lead to an interference with your rights. The correspondence with the Ombudsperson must not be supervised by the prison.
Read more about a complaint to the Ombudsperson.
Complaint about medical care
If you were seen by a doctor during your arrest or if you were treated in the Hospital for accused and convicted in Trenčín and you were not satisfied with the quality of the treatment received, you have the right to file a complaint with the Health Care Surveillance Authority.
The complaint must be submitted in writing and must be signed. It must also include the name and surname of the applicant, the name of the medical facility and a detailed description of the problem. The Health Authority shall notify the applicant in writing of the commencement of supervision. However, the deadline for its completion is not set by the law.