Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Law of the Land


• Arrest and detention awaiting trial



The police is authorized to arrest/apprehend a suspected person for a period of 48 hours if there is a reason to suppose that he has committed an offence, and reasonable fears exist that such a person may go into hiding or destroy the evidence of his offence or if his identity could not be established. The arrested person should be informed immediately about the reasons for his arrest and his rights. His or her explanations should be heard.

The prosecutor must be notified immediately.


Immediately after collecting the necessary evidence, in case that the legal prerequisites for pre-trial detention referred to in Article 258 of the Code of Criminal Procedure occur, a motion to the prosecutor should be made, requesting him to obtain a preliminary detention order from the court.


The arrested person, upon his demand, shall be given the opportunity to contact a lawyer by any means available and to talk directly with the latter. The person who made the arrest may reserve the right to be present when such a conversation takes place.


By virtue of Article 250 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, detention awaiting trial may only occur on the basis of an order from the court, upon a motion from the prosecutor. The court, and in the preparatory proceedings also the prosecutor, shall supervise the carrying out of the arrest as the preventive measure (Article 256 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).


• Seizure of objects and searches


Objects which may serve as evidence, or be subject to seizure in order to secure penalties regarding property, criminal measures involving property or claims to redress damage, may be surrendered when so required by the court (during the trial phase) or the prosecutor (during the preparatory proceedings), and in cases not amenable to delay, by the police or an other authorized agency (Article 217 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).


If the surrender is demanded by the police or another agency, the holder of the objects liable to surrender has the right to make, without delay, motion to a court or a prosecutor to present justification of the authorization decision and the person MUST be informed about his/her right.


The holder shall be served, within 14 days of the seizure of the objects, an order of the prosecutor authorizing the action (Article 217 § 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).


A search may be made of premises and other places in order to detect or detain a person or to ensure his compulsory appearance, as well as to locate objects which might serve as evidence in criminal proceedings, if there is good reason to suppose that the suspected person or the objects sought are to be located there (Article 219 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).


By virtue of Article 220 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure a search may be conducted by the prosecutor, or, with warrant issued by the prosecutor, by the police, and, also in cases specified in law, by another agency. The person on whose premises the search is to be conducted should be presented with a warrant issued by the prosecutor.


In cases not amenable to delay, if it has not been possible to obtain the order prior to seizure, the police must present a warrant from the chief of unit or an official identity card. The agency should then apply, without delay, to the court or the state prosecutor for approval of the search. The person on whose premises the search was conducted should be served, within 7 days of the search, an order of the court or the state prosecutor authorizing the action if he demands one. This person must be informed about his/her right to demand authorization of the search.

It has taken six months and fourteen days to obtain this information, which shows that many procedures Polish law says MUST be obeyed by the prosecutor and the police were simply ignored.

I have never seen a warrant and I have never been informed of my rights of appeal against the confiscation of my property. I repeat once more, I demand
a motion to a court or a prosecutor to have justification presented to me with regard to the authorization decision for the surrender of my property.

The law says the person MUST be informed about his/her right regarding this procedure.

They were too busy obtaining my wrongful imprisonment to inform me of my rights. Had I been informed of my rights, I was rendered incapable of taking the necessary action as a result of my incarceration.

No comments:

Post a Comment