Important decision
In its recent ruling (Case No. II. ÚS 645/26), the Constitutional Court emphasized that the legitimacy of detention as an exceptional detention instrument decreases with its duration. The courts are obliged to present increasingly concrete and convincing arguments for its continuation as time passes, a process referred to as the doctrine of “amplified reasons”. If the ordinary courts do not properly consider the possibility of replacing long-term detention with alternative measures, they violate the accused’s right to personal liberty and due process.
According to the panel, with Judge Pavel Šámal as Rapporteur, when deciding on a request for release from custody, the municipal courts must balance the seriousness of the crime with the defendant’s current personal circumstances. The Constitutional Court reproached the lower courts for not sufficiently addressing the complainant’s arguments and uncritically insisting on the strictest restriction of liberty. The Judicature recalls that the requirements for the justification of custodial decisions have become stricter with the passage of time, and the mere citation of legal grounds without reference to the actual state of the proceedings is no longer sufficient.
A key point of the decision is the call for theuse of custodial substitutes under the Criminal Procedure Code, such as supervision by a probation officer, a monetary guarantee or electronic monitoring. The Constitutional Court stressed that if the accused proposes a comprehensive set of alternative measures which, in their totality, constitute an intensive control regime, the courts must give specific reasons why they consider such measures insufficient. Ignoring these alternatives in the case of prolonged detention is, according to the judgment, an impermissible interference with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.
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