(b) the detail provided (the criminal act the person is suspected of; the lawfulness of detention; the accusation)?
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Austria
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The suspect must be informed about the criminal act he is suspected of. Furthermore, he must be informed in writing within 24 hours about the reasons for detention (§ 171(3) StPO).
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Belgium
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This previously given information about the suspected offence/facts is very often – not to say always – very general and vague.
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Bulgaria
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Under the respective Bulgarian legal rules and as far as the bringing of a criminal charge is concerned, the criminal offence is to be depicted in all details in the act of bringing the charge. The same holds true about the rules covering the police arrest order, where the suspicion that a given person has committed a criminal offence is one of the reasons to accept that detention has been lawful.
Therefore, as far as national law is concerned, the respective rules comply with the requirements of the Directive as regards the details of the information that is to be provided.
There are no practical problems in the case of bringing the criminal charge. Yet there are practical problems in the cases of suspects arrested by the police, where police arrest orders very often contain none or very insufficient information about the specific criminal offence that the arrested person is suspected to have committed.
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Croatia
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When the accusation is submitted to the court, detailed information is provided on the accusation, including the description of the criminal offence and legal classification of the criminal offence, whteher or not the accused is deprived of liberty and since when is the accused deprived from liberty, and evidences that are the basis of the accusation.
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Cyprus
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In case the suspect or accused is not deprived of his/her liberty then according to the Judge’s Rules the caution is made orally and in writing if the suspect or accused wishes to give a written statement. In the written statement it is written by the investigating officer the nature of the crime he is investigating against the suspect or accused and the right to silent which is signed by the suspect or accused. If the suspect or accused refuses to sign it then the senior police officer present, records on the statement itself and in the presence of the suspect or accused making it, what has happened.
In case the suspect or accused is deprived of his/her liberty according to the Rights of Persons who are Arrested and Detained Law (L.163(I)/2005), the person arrested has the right to be informed about the reasons that he/she have been arrested or detained and what he/she is suspected or accused of having done, in a language he/she understands.
According to the European Arrest Warrant Law (L. 133(I)/2004) the arrested person has the right to be informed about the content of the European Arrest Warrant on the basis of which he/she has been arrested.
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Czech Republic
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See the previous answer regarding content of the accusation and indictment.
The suspect within the shortened pre-trial proceedings has to be at the latest at the beginning of the questioning informed about the fact that he is suspected of and what criminal offence it is seen in it (see Section 179b(2) CCP).
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Estonia
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Details of the suspicion that is given during pre-trial investigation includes a summary of alleged facts, incl the specific acts of the suspect, as well as legal classification thereof by way of references to the Penal Code.
The statement of charges (indictment) must include detailed overview of all relevant facts, the legal classification thereof, list of evidence the accusations are based on, etc.
Suspects who are remanded in custody shall be provided with an arrest warrant which includes (a) the details of the suspicion, and (b) the justification of detention, and its legal basis.
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Finland
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The details given vary. Usually at the beginning of the investigation only the title of the suspected crime is given. Even the time, place and date of the suspected crime is sometimes not given prior to the interrogation. This varies a lot, but on a general basis the information could be provided in more detail at an earlier stage.
When charges are brought, the prosecutor describes the accusation in the deed description that is sent to court and then served on the defendant.
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France
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- Only the legal qualification, the date and location of the offence are disclosed.
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Germany
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Greece
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Usually the accusation is served to the accused in writing and is given the ability to receive copies of the file. Problems sometimes rise as to foreign defendants who do not understand the Greek language, so that the relevant information is not sufficient, due to poor quality of interpretation.
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Hungary
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The accusation is translated to the mother tongue of the accused.
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Ireland
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The fullest information is only provided after the first appearance before a Court but before the trial of the person.
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Italy
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See above
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Latvia
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The act the person is suspected of, legal classification of the criminal offence, as well as the nature of participation by the suspected person.
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Lithuania
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The above-mentioned information is provided in the accusation.
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Luxembourg
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Concerning the act the person is suspected having committed, the information is rather vague and short, indeed very low information is provided to the suspected person before questioning about the facts by the investigating judge or by the police officer.
Full information concerning the facts is only available after the first hearing by the investigation judge in consideration to article 85 of criminal code.
No information concerning the lawfulness of detention is given, which is absolutely contrary to article 7 of the directive.
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Malta
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Offence indicated (at times supplemented further with reference to the specific article of Criminal Code (Chapter 9 of the Laws of Malta)
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Poland
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Detainees (also on the grounds of a European Arrest Warrant) as well as suspects (accused) shall obtain detailed information on the reasons of detention and about charges (also about their supplement or modification). The ‘detailed information’ means that it’s necessary to provide aforementioned persons with description of the reason for their detention or accusation, i.e. about criminal act a person is detained or suspected of having committed. Such criminal act – a basis of detention or a basis of a charge in criminal proceedings – must be described precisely and there must be given a legal qualification of such criminal act. The detailed information about accusation exists in the moment when the merits of the accusation are submitted to a court. This standard is present in regulations of the Code of Criminal Proceedings of 1997 and it is generally carried out in the practice of proper Polish authorities (but in practice there sometimes are observed some lacks in the field to respect this standard, especially when it will be considered the demand of precise description of a charged criminal act).
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Portugal
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The information provided on the accusation includes the criminal act, the nature and legal classifications of the criminal offence and the nature of participation by the accused.
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Romania
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Slovakia
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The ruling on laying the charges shall give the description of the act being investigated, the place, date and/or other circumstances of such act so as to prevent confusion with another act; it shall specify which criminal offence was committed through such act giving its legal nomenclature and the applicable provisions of the Penal Act as well as the charges on which the accused is being prosecuted.
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Slovenia
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On submission of the merits of the accusation to a court, detailed information is provided on the accusation, including the nature and legal classification of the criminal offence, as well as the nature of participation by the accused person.
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Spain
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See the previous answer.
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Sweden
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Information about the suspicion during the preliminary investigation
The provided information shall contain information about the criminal act the person is suspected of. At this stage the level of concreteness of the provided information vary from investigation to investigation. It generally consists of the legal classification of the alleged offence and a brief description of the act including time and place.
A good practice that can be pointed out in context is the practice frequently applied in investigations concerning economic criminal offences. - In connection to the first questioning and before the questioning starts, a relatively detailed description of the criminal act in writing is handed out to the suspected person and his or her lawyer.
Details given about the charges in the indictment
The indictment shall contain the following information about the accusation:
- identity of the accused person,
- identity of the aggrieved person if there is any,
- the criminal act, specifying the time and place of its commission and the other circumstances required for its identification, and the applicable statutory section
- the invoked evidence
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The Netherlands
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See the answer to (a) above.
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UK
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England and Wales
See answer to (a) above.
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Scotland
As discussed above, details of the offence are provided both at the time of detention and arrest.
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Northern Ireland
Detail provided- specific criminal offence detailed at decision by custody sergeant regarding lawfulness of detention. The detained person will have heard the general nature of the evidence (in very broad terms usually.) Suspect will be advised by custody sergeant been told that after hearing from the officer in charge of the case with some details of the nature of the allegations if the Custody Sergeant has satisfied themselves that the detention is necessary and lawful.
Regarding an accusation in serious cases the PSNI often conduct a structured interview technique which means that they plan out a series of interviews at the start of the process to deal with the whole evidence gathering (interview) process. Usually a structured interview technique will ask the detained person to give an account of their movements at the relevant time. Often in this process the police will indicate that they are seeking to test the truthfulness of the detained persons account and will indicate that they have not fully disclosed all of the evidence or material in their possession.
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