When a certain crime is committed, a large number of people
are often under the scrutiny of the police, prosecutor’s office and court, and
not only those who are determined to be perpetrators of the crime (in the
broadest sense). For this reason, we can often hear, in our environment or in
the media, that someone has been unjustifiably arrested or detained, that he
has spent more time in prison than determined by a final judgment and that he
wants to exercise the right to compensation for unfounded deprivation of
liberty.
Certainly, the mere fact that you have been unjustifiably
detained is enough to award you compensation for the mental pain you have
suffered, which is why you should not miss the procedure for its compensation.
When are you considered to have been unjustifiably arrested /
detained?
You are entitled to monetary compensation for unjustified
detention when you have been deprived of your liberty and no criminal
proceedings have been instituted against you, when the proceedings have been
suspended, when the charge has been dismissed (usually due to the statute of
limitations) or the acquittal has ended. finds that the act for which someone
is accused is not a crime at all or that the accused did not commit it)
How do I exercise my right to compensation for unjustified
arrest?
The right to compensation for damage due to unfounded
apprehension is exercised in an appropriate procedure before the Ministry of
Justice of the Republic of Serbia. Like any other dispute, this one would be
best resolved in this way, out of court. The initial presumption for that is
respecting the deadlines within which such requests expire, submitting all the
necessary documentation and respecting all other procedural assumptions.
If, on the other hand, no agreement is reached on the amount
of compensation or the Ministry does not respond to your request within the
prescribed period, there is always the option of filing a lawsuit against the
Republic of Serbia, more precisely – due to unfounded apprehension
It is important to point out that this procedure is
completely separate from the criminal procedure and is conducted only after the
criminal procedure has been completed in one of the above-mentioned ways.
How much money will I be paid for unfounded apprehension?
Since there is no universal answer to this question, we
should keep in mind that the body of procedure will assess all the
circumstances of a particular case. Therefore, special attention will be paid
to the intensity of the mental pain that the detainee suffered, the length of
detention, the reputation that the detainee enjoyed in society, the environment
he comes from, how he treats him after his release and fig.
In practice, the amount of compensation ranges on average
from several thousand dinars per day of detention. However, depending on the
part for which you were detained, what kind of work you do, how you were
treated in detention, etc., the amount of this compensation can be significantly
higher.
For this reason, it is very important that this procedure is
initiated by someone who has sufficient knowledge and experience in this area
and who can help you prove in the best way all the important facts that will
affect the amount of compensation awarded as much as possible.
