Injured party and compensation

Author of the article: ARROWS law firm (Mgr. Tomáš Pertot, office@arws.cz, +420 245 007 740)

This article was written in 2022. If you are looking for up-to-date information on this topic, please do not hesitate to contact us at office@arws.cz or by phone at +420 245 007 740. We will be happy to advise you.

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The victim, i.e. the person who has been harmed, caused property damage or non-property damage by the criminal offence, or at whose expense the perpetrator of the criminal offence has enriched himself, has certain rights in criminal proceedings. In addition to the right to participate to a certain extent in the conduct of criminal proceedings, one of the very important rights of the victim is the possibility of proposing that the court, in the judgment of conviction, impose on the defendant an obligation to compensate in money for the damage or non-pecuniary harm caused by the offender's act or may impose an obligation to pay the unjust enrichment.

In order for the court to decide on the victim's claim in the criminal proceedings, it is necessary that the victim submits his or her claim within a certain period of time. In standard criminal proceedings, the claim must be made at the latest at the main hearing before the court, before the evidence is taken.

Such an application must contain the facts on which the court can assess the victim's claim and rule on it in its judgment. The injured party must therefore provide evidence of the cause and amount of the damage, non-pecuniary damage or unjust enrichment.

However, since the Criminal Procedure Code allows for other forms of adjudication of the offence, the time or manner by which the victim's claim must be made may vary. If the victim did not declare his or her claim in time or did not sufficiently substantiate it, he or she would subsequently have to pursue it in civil litigation, i.e. by filing a lawsuit, which has certain disadvantages compared to a criminal decision.

Criminal proceedings are one of the most complex proceedings conducted by our courts, primarily because the fate of many people is decided there. Because of this, the legislation must be thorough and complex, but for the average person it is very convoluted. Especially for the victim, who may still be stressed by the crime committed or the criminal proceedings themselves.

However, the Criminal Procedure Code allows the victim(s) to be represented by an attorney, ideally a criminal law specialist, who can help the victim through the criminal proceedings so that the claim is filed correctly and in a timely manner, or the likelihood of the claim being decided in the criminal proceedings is increased. Representation by an attorney is more than desirable and is recommended given the psychological demands of the post-crime period and the complexity of criminal proceedings.