Important decision
If the police close a case, this does not mean that a person retroactively loses the rights to which they were entitled as a particularly vulnerable victim. The Constitutional Court emphasized that a victim’s status is assessed based on the situation at the time they need protection and legal assistance, not on the ultimate outcome of the criminal proceedings.
The Constitutional Court considered the case of an attorney who represented a person considered a particularly vulnerable victim and provided him with free legal assistance. The police later dismissed the case, stating that no crime had been committed, and subsequently refused to pay the lawyer’s fees. According to the police, the client could not be considered a victim after the case had been dismissed. The Constitutional Court rejected this retroactive interpretation.
According to the court , the decisive factor is whether the person met the conditions for being granted the rights of a particularly vulnerable victim at the time the assistance was provided.If so, the protection already provided cannot be retroactively revoked simply because the crime could not be proven later. A different approach could discourage, for example, victims of domestic or sexual violence from seeking legal assistance. Exceptions may apply in cases of obvious abuse of the victim’s status. At the same time, the Constitutional Court did not rule that a lawyer automatically receives the full requested fee—the police must reassess the lawyer’s claim, including the appropriateness of individual actions.
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