As a victim you may also be asked to be a witness in the criminal trial. It is important that you are safe if you agree to testify. If this is not the case, the State is obliged to protect you from any danger.
If there is any danger to your life, health, liberty or even property because of your testimony, the State is under an obligation to protect you. In that case you have the right to ask for special protection.
Special protection
The state of danger may suppose various situations in which you can ask for special protection, for example:
- There has been an attack on your life or health or other interests as a result of your role in uncovering a crime.
- You have received real threats to your life or health or other interests as a result of your role in uncovering a crime.
- You have not received any real threats yet, but there are sufficient grounds to believe that your life, health or other interests may be in danger as a result of your role in uncovering a crime.
You may only ask for special protection if your testimony is used for uncovering a serious, particularly serious or exceptionally serious crime. However, if there is a real threat to your life and health because of your testimony in relation to a less serious crime, the State will still have to protect you.
If you are not protected, and as a result, you or other people close to you are attacked because of your testimony, this may, depending on the circumstances, violate your, or their, right to life or prohibition of inhuman treatment.
How to ask for protection
Request
If you believe that you are not safe during criminal proceedings, you should request special protection from the person that is handling the case at that stage. This may be either the investigator, prosecutor or the court. The powers to decide on special protection depends on the types of measures (see below) to be applied in your case. Only the prosecutor, the higher-level prosecutor or the court can grant you the protection measures. Therefore if the investigator in charge of the case decide that you should be granted protection, he/she will send that suggestion to the prosecutor. When you think you are entitled to protection measures, you should submit the request directly to the prosecutor or to the court, depending on the stage of the criminal proceedings. If the official handling the case decides that you don’t need special protection, such refusal must contain sufficient reasoning. The urgent or assistance measures may be applied by the investigator of the criminal prosecution body, by the prosecutor and higher-level prosecutor, or in case you are detained, by the detention facility administration.
Appeal
If you were refused protection and you disagree with this decision, there are various avenues for appealing this decision:
- If the investigator in your case refused to suggest granting you protection measures or refused to grant you urgent or assistance measures, you should appeal that decision to the prosecutor.
- If the decision was taken by the prosecutor, you should appeal it to the investigative judge.
- If the decision was taken by the court, you must file your appeal to a higher court. For example, a decision of the court of first instance to the court of appeal, and a decision of the court of appeal to the Supreme Court.
Types of protection
There are three types of special protection:
- urgent measures, such as ensuring protection by security guards, audio/video surveillance, temporary placement in a safe place or providing you with defence means
- assistance measures (of medical, legal, psychological and social nature, help in obtaining a new profession or temporary providing a decent income)
- protection measures
Protection measures would be most seriously affecting your life. Some of the protection measures involve:
- a change of identity
- a change of your look by plastic surgery or other means
- a change of residence or job
- insurance for the property of protected persons, etc.
The official who makes the decision to grant special protection to you also has the right to determine which type of protection is the most suitable for your situation.
Private life
Your private life must be protected during criminal proceedings. Photographs, videos or any other recordings of you taken by officials during the investigation cannot be published in media without your permission. These materials can be published only if they are necessary for solving the crime. The publication of these materials without your permission and without justification may result in a violation of your right to a private life.