When you are stopped as a suspect by an investigating officer, he has the right to establish your identity so that he knows who he is dealing with.
However, the arrest of a suspect can occur in two ways, red-handed or not red-handed.
Red-handed
Have you been discovered in the act of committing a criminal offense? Then anyone can arrest you. When an investigating officer does this, the officer will take you straight to the place for questioning. The first thing an investigating officer will say to you when he arrests you red-handed is: ”You have the right to remain silent, and you have the right to a lawyer”. As a suspect, you have rights when you are arrested, and you must take note of these rights. For example, you are not obliged to answer questions, a lawyer may assist you, you have the right to an interpreter, and you may inspect your trial documents. The investigating officer then also has rights upon your arrest. For example, an investigating officer may search any place and examine any clothing or objects you are carrying.
Not red-handed
If you are suspected of committing a red-handed offense, you will be arrested by an investigating officer on the orders of the public prosecutor. However, this suspicion must relate to a crime for which pre-trial detention is permitted. These are offenses for which a prison sentence of four years or more has been imposed. The pre-trial detention is when a suspect is held in a cell while awaiting the judge’s decision.
The Investigation
After you have been arrested, you will be taken by the investigating officer to the place of interrogation. This hearing is an arraignment to the assistant prosecutor or the public prosecutor himself. After the arraignment, the prosecutor can decide whether to release the suspect or detain him for further investigation. In the case of the latter, you can be detained for up to nine hours. Unless you are suspected of a crime for which pre-trial detention is permitted, you can be detained for up to nine hours. It is important to know that the time between 00:00 and 09:00 does not count. So if you are arrested at 23:00, the nine-hour term ends at 17:00. After the interrogation by the public prosecutor, he can decide if it is wise to detain you for a longer period of time in the interest of the investigation. This is called remand in custody and is only possible for crimes for which remand in custody is permitted. The detention lasts a maximum of three days unless the public prosecutor considers it urgently necessary, in which case the three days are extended by another three days. After the public prosecutor has questioned you, you will be heard by the examining judge.
You can submit a request for release to the examining judge because the detention was unlawful. This means that you believe you should not have been taken into custody and would like to be released. The examining judge can then decide on this. You will be released if this is granted and put back into police custody if it is denied.
Provisional detention
After the remand in custody, the judge may issue an order for your detention on the orders of the public prosecutor. This takes place in a house of detention or a police station and lasts a maximum of fourteen days. The detention order is the first phase of pre-trial detention. Suppose the public prosecutor deems it necessary to keep you in pre-trial detention for more time after this period. In that case, the court may order a detention order at the public prosecutor’s request. You will then be detained for a maximum of another 90 days. After this, the court will decide, and you will know whether you will be punished or released. The number of days you were taken into police custody, detention order, or detention order is called pre-trial detention. The judge may decide at sentencing to reduce your sentence by deducting the remand from the number of days/months/years you will have to spend in prison.