Letter from Prague
[Editor’s Note: Jan Vidrna is a criminal defense lawyer in the Czech Republic. He is a former police investigator and state prosecutor who brought many a murderer to justice, and if a photograph he sent me involving a close-up of a torso and a shoulder holster is any indication, he still packs heat (though probably not in the courtroom).]
Only in Brief from the Heart of Europe
To be a criminal lawyer is not easy for a number of reasons. One of them is that – in the opinion of police officers, prosecutors and judges – the criminal lawyer simply puts obstacles in the way of their socially meritorious work. At least in the Czech Republic it is so.
One example of this is the legislative effort, to make it easier to prosecute the work of these lawyers in the future. There is a proportionate effort to narrow the rights of their clients.
As far as criminal law is concerned, there is a very serious proposal to allow the accusations to be communicated to the first person’s interrogation protocol, without justification and without the possibility of a complaint. Nothing like that existed at the time of the Communist dictatorship in the fifties of the last century!
Another great idea lies in the proposal to introduce a new crime called “Marrying Justice.” Its essence, in short, would be to punish the person who, in criminal proceedings, furnishes proof known to be counterfeit or altered, intends to be used as genuine or counterfeit or amends evidence to be used as the right one.
Such a provision, of course, would be a significant risk to lawyers. Naturally, the attorney is not obliged to examine the truth of his client’s claims, nor to judge the authenticity of the documents he presents, etc. It may therefore be easy for the frivolous police lawyer to blame quickly and then “we will see.” Is the relationship of trust between the attorney and the client likely to be reduced? Should the lawyer be some representative of the state and examine the authenticity of the claim and the authenticity of the documents?
This is a complete legislative nonsense and the criminal law section of the Czech Republic’s Bar Association, of which I am a member, of course makes every effort not to implement it.