ABC justiça

Defendant

Defendant
Defendant is the name given in the criminal proceedings to someone who is being investigated on suspicion of having committed a crime.

The defendant has a number of rights and duties.

The defendant has the right to:

Attend the procedural acts that pertain to them.
Be informed of the facts that they are suspected of having committed.
To refuse to answer questions.
To be assisted by a defence lawyer, to present evidence, and to appeal decisions that they disagree with.

The defendant also has the following duties:

To appear before the judge, the Public Prosecutor or the police whenever summoned.
To subject themselves to the collection of evidence.
To not change their residence or to be absent for more than five days without authorization.
To comply with the restrictive measures that may be applied to them.

To learn more about the role of the defendant in the trial, click here.

Some of the information on this site has been simplified in order to make it as accessible so that anyone can understand it. This simplification does not, however, jeopardize the accuracy and correctness of its contents. The contents of this site do not replace individual legal advice (given by a lawyer). The contents of this site were created by APAV as a part of Projeto ABC Justiça, which is co-financed by the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund through the United States Embassy. The contents of this site reflect the views of APAV and those entities cannot be be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.