Chapter Two – Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

Part Two: Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms

Article 17

(1) Personal freedom is guaranteed.

(2) No one must be prosecuted or deprived of freedom other than for reasons and in a manner defined by law. No one must be deprived of freedom solely because of his inability to comply with a contractual obligation.

(3) A person accused or suspected of a criminal act can be detained only in cases defined by law. The detained person must be immediately informed of the reasons for the detainment, interrogated, and either released or brought before the court within 24 hours at the latest. The judge must question the detained within 24 hours of taking over the case and decide on his or her custody or release.

(4) An accused person may be arrested only on the basis of a written, substantiated court warrant. The arrested person must be brought before the court within 24 hours. The judge must question the arrested person within 24 hours of taking over the case and decide on his or her custody or release.

(5) A person can be taken into custody only for reasons and for a period defined by law and on the basis of a court ruling.

(6) The law will specify in which cases a person can be admitted to, or kept in, institutional health care without his or her consent. Such a measure must be reported within 24 hours to the court, which will then decide on this placement within five days.

(7) The mental state of a person accused of criminal activity can be examined only on the basis of the court’s written order.

Chapter Two – Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

Part Seven: The Right to Judicial and Other Legal Protection

Article 46

(1) Everyone may claim by the established legal procedure his right to an independent and impartial court hearing and, in cases designated by law, to another body of the Slovak Republic.

(2) Anyone who claims to have been deprived of his rights by a decision of a public administration body may appeal to the court for it to reexamine the lawfulness of that decision, unless specified otherwise by law. The reexamination of decisions concerning basic rights and liberties must not, however, be excluded from the court’s authority.

(3) Everyone is entitled to compensation for damage incurred as a result of an unlawful decision by a court or another state or public administration body, or as a result of an incorrect official procedure.

(4) Conditions and details concerning court and other legal protection will be set out in a law.


Article 47

(1) Everyone has the right to refuse to testify if, by doing so, he might expose himself or a person close to him to the risk of criminal prosecution.

(2) Everyone has the right to legal assistance in court proceedings or proceedings before other state or public administration bodies. He has this right from the very start of the proceedings, under conditions defined by law.

(3) All participants in proceedings according to section 2 are equal.

(4) Anyone who declares that he does not have a command of the language in which the proceedings according to section 2 are conducted has the right to an interpreter.


Article 48

(1) No one must be removed from the jurisdiction of his law-assigned judge. The jurisdiction of the court is established by law.

(2) Everyone has the right to have his case tried in public, without needless procrastination, and in his presence and to deliver his opinion on all pieces of evidence. The public can be excluded only in cases specified by law.


Article 49

Only the law established which conduct constitutes a criminal act and what punishment or other form of deprivation of rights or property may be inflicted upon those who committed it.


Article 50

(1) Only the court shall decide on guilt and punishment for criminal acts.

(2) Every defendant is considered innocent until the court establishes his guilt by means of a legally valid verdict.

(3) The accused has the right to be granted the time and opportunity to prepare his defense, either himself or through a defense counsel.

(4) The defendant has the right to refuse to testify and must not be denied this right under any
circumstances.

(5) No one must be made criminally liable for a deed for which he has already been sentenced or of which he has already been acquitted in a legally valid manner. This principle does not rule out the application of extraordinary corrective means in harmony with the law.

(6) The criminal liability of a deed is assessed, and punishment is meted out, according to the law valid at the time when the offense was committed. A more recent law will be applied if it is more favorable for the perpetrator.

Article 55
Rights of persons during an investigation
1. In respect of an investigation under this Statute, a person:
(a) Shall not be compelled to incriminate himself or herself or to confess guilt;
(b) Shall not be subjected to any form of coercion, duress or threat, to torture or to any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
(c) Shall, if questioned in a language other than a language the person fully understands and speaks, have, free of any cost, the assistance of a competent interpreter and such translations as are necessary to meet the requirements of fairness; and
(d) Shall not be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and shall not be deprived of his or her liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established in this Statute.
2. Where there are grounds to believe that a person has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court and that person is about to be questioned either by the Prosecutor, or by national authorities pursuant to a request made under Part 9, that person shall also have the following rights of which he or she shall be informed prior to being questioned:
(a) To be informed, prior to being questioned, that there are grounds to believe that he or she has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(b) To remain silent, without such silence being a consideration in the determination of guilt or innocence;
(c) To have legal assistance of the person's choosing, or, if the person does not have legal assistance, to have legal assistance assigned to him or her, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by the person in any such case if the person does not have sufficient means to pay for it; and
(d) To be questioned in the presence of counsel unless the person has voluntarily waived his or her right to counsel.

Article 63
Trial in the presence of the accused
1. The accused shall be present during the trial.
2. If the accused, being present before the Court, continues to disrupt the trial, the Trial Chamber may remove the accused and shall make provision for him or her to observe the trial and instruct counsel from outside the courtroom, through the use of communications technology, if required. Such measures shall be taken only in exceptional circumstances after other reasonable alternatives have proved inadequate, and only for such duration as is strictly required.

Article 66
Presumption of innocence
1. Everyone shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty before the Court in accordance with the applicable law.
2. The onus is on the Prosecutor to prove the guilt of the accused.
3. In order to convict the accused, the Court must be convinced of the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

Article 67
Rights of the accused
1. In the determination of any charge, the accused shall be entitled to a public hearing, having regard to the provisions of this Statute, to a fair hearing conducted impartially, and to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail of the nature, cause and content of the charge, in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defence and to communicate freely with counsel of the accused's choosing in confidence;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) Subject to article 63, paragraph 2, to be present at the trial, to conduct the defence in person or through legal assistance of the accused's choosing, to be informed, if the accused does not have legal assistance, of this right and to have legal assistance assigned by the Court in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment if the accused lacks sufficient means to pay for it;
(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him or her and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his or her behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him or her. The accused shall also be entitled to raise defences and to present other evidence admissible under this Statute;
(f) To have, free of any cost, the assistance of a competent interpreter and such translations as are necessary to meet the requirements of fairness, if any of the proceedings of or documents presented to the Court are not in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify or to confess guilt and to remain silent, without such silence being a consideration in the determination of guilt or innocence;
(h) To make an unsworn oral or written statement in his or her defence; and
(i) Not to have imposed on him or her any reversal of the burden of proof or any onus of rebuttal.
2. In addition to any other disclosure provided for in this Statute, the Prosecutor shall, as soon as practicable, disclose to the defence evidence in the Prosecutor's possession or control which he or she believes shows or tends to show the innocence of the accused, or to mitigate the guilt of the accused, or which may affect the credibility of prosecution evidence. In case of doubt as to the application of this paragraph, the Court shall decide.