Office and living space searches

Right to attend of the lawyer of the accused at business and living space searches

If the police want to search your premises or your home for evidence, you should consult a lawyer for advice and instruct him to be present during the search.

For the lawyer to be able to be present at a police raid results legally from the fact that the accused in both his business premises and living space has a right to exercise his house right in spite of police action.

The owner of the house right decides who is allowed in there and this also includes the right for his defender to be there and monitor police activity.

This means that the police will have to wait before carrying out their search operation until the lawyer arrives.

This is the only way to ensure that confiscation directory required by law is created by the police and only those evidences are seized that were supposed to be able to be found by the court order (§ 94 “as evidence for the investigation”).

The same is true in urgent cases, in which the police orders the search warrant themselves. Unfortunately, past cases show that the police without the presence of a lawyer confiscates material and objects overly generous, which always means additional lost time by the court.

Furthermore, items are confiscated, which are not covered under evidence.

This post is also available in: German