Civil claimant and civil defendant

​If a victim has suffered material or immaterial damage because of the crime, he or she may lodge a civil claim in the case. In this case the victim’s procedural role would be twofold – he or she would act both as an injured party and as a civil claimant. However, please note that in some cases some other persons apart from victims themselves can lodge a civil claim and become civil claimants in criminal procedure, e.g., legal persons who have suffered damages through crime cannot act as injured parties and can join the case as civil claimants only.

If an injured party lodges a civil claim a suspect or defendant usually acquires an additional status of civil defendant. However, in some cases some other persons along with the suspect or defendant can be requested to compensate the damage caused by crime, e.g., parents would have to cover costs of the property stolen by their juvenile children, or a company would have to cover damage caused by a traffic crime committed by its employee, etc. In these cases, the status of civil defendant is acknowledged to every person indicated as a responsible one in the civil claim.