# The police want to question me: my rights

The police or the public prosecutor want to question you about a possible offence, or you have been summoned, stopped or arrested for this. This guide explains in which role you can be questioned, what you must and must not say, when you can involve a defence lawyer, and what happens to the examination hearing record. It does not replace personal legal advice.

This guide covers: This guide applies if the police or the public prosecutor want to question you, or have questioned you, about a suspected offence: as an accused person, as a person providing information, or as a witness. It covers summonses, brief police stops and provisional arrests.

Not covered: This guide does not cover purely police-law checks with no connection to an offence, such as a plain identity check; cantonal police law applies to those. It also does not go into the special juvenile criminal procedure for people under 18, beyond a pointer to the separate Juvenile Criminal Procedure Code. Nor does it cover how to proceed as a victim who wants to apply for their own protective measures.

## Your answers

- In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? (As an accused person (I am suspected of an offence) / As a person providing information / As a witness (for example before the public prosecutor) / I don't know)
- How did the police get in touch with you? (Written or telephone summons / Stopped in the street / Provisionally arrested / I don't know)
- Are you under 18 years old? (Yes / No / I don't know)
- Do you understand the language of the questioning well enough to defend yourself? (Yes / No / I don't know)

## Watch out

If you are questioned as a person providing information because it cannot be ruled out that you yourself were involved in the act being investigated, essentially the same rules apply to your questioning as to an accused person: you do not have to testify and do not have to cooperate. The authority must tell you at the start of questioning whether you must testify or may refuse to testify. If you testify voluntarily, you must also be warned of the possible criminal consequences of a false accusation, misleading the judicial authorities, or assisting an offender.

Different rules apply if you are a person providing information for another reason, for example because you are taking part in the proceedings as an injured party (private claimant), or are not yet 15 years old at the time of the examination hearing. If in doubt, ask to be told which group you belong to.

If you are unsure whether you yourself could come under investigation, ask explicitly about your exact role and involve a lawyer before you testify.

*Applies if: In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? → As a person providing information*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 178](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_178), [StPO · Art. 180](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_180), [StPO · Art. 181](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_181)

If you are accused or a person providing information, you do not have to incriminate yourself. Your silence alone may not be treated by a court or the public prosecutor as an indication of guilt. It is safest to get advice from a lawyer before you make any statement on the substance.

However, you must submit to compulsory measures provided for by law, for example a forensic identification procedure or an ordered blood sample. Your refusal to testify does not stop the authorities continuing the proceedings.

*Applies if: In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? → As an accused person (I am suspected of an offence) / As a person providing information / I don't know*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 113](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_113), [BGE 138 IV 47, E. 2.6.1](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_138_IV_47#e-2-6-1)

After a provisional arrest, tight time limits apply until a court decides on any remand:

The police must release you or bring you before the public prosecutor at the latest after 24 hours; if the arrest was preceded by a brief stop, its duration counts towards these 24 hours.

If the public prosecutor wants to apply for remand, it must do so with the compulsory measures court at the latest 48 hours after your arrest. If it does not, it must release you immediately.

The compulsory measures court must then decide, at the latest within a further 48 hours, whether you remain on remand or are released.

In total, therefore, at most around 96 hours may pass between your arrest and a court decision on detention. If remand is ordered, you can apply for release from remand at any time.

*Applies if: How did the police get in touch with you? → Provisionally arrested / I don't know*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 219](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_219), [StPO · Art. 224](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_224), [StPO · Art. 226](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_226), [BGE 137 IV 118, E. 2.1](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_137_IV_118#e-2-1), [StPO · Art. 228](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_228)

## The law

In a police interview there are normally only two roles: accused person or person providing information. The police or the public prosecutor must say at the start in which role you are being examined; ask explicitly if this is not clear.

Anyone who is themselves suspected is questioned as an accused person. You do not have to say anything and do not have to cooperate; your silence may not be treated as an admission of guilt.

Anyone who does not come into question as an accused person is questioned as a person providing information at a police examination hearing – in practice, almost anyone not themselves accused whom the police question about an offence. Before the public prosecutor or a court too, a person is a person providing information rather than a witness in certain cases, for example as a private claimant or as someone under 15 at the time of the examination hearing. Under the law, only a private claimant is obliged to testify, and only before the public prosecutor, a court, or the police acting on the public prosecutor's behalf. At an ordinary police interview, you do not have to testify as a person providing information.

Only the public prosecutor, a court, or police staff specifically designated for this on their behalf may examine you as a witness with a duty to tell the truth. Witnesses must in principle testify truthfully; close relatives of the accused and certain other people may refuse to testify.

Sources: [StPO · Art. 142](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_142), [StPO · Art. 179](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_179), [StPO · Art. 178](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_178), [StPO · Art. 177](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_177), [StPO · Art. 113](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_113), [StPO · Art. 180](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_180), [BGE 141 IV 20, E. 1.2.4](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_141_IV_20#e-1-2-4)

An examination as a witness with a duty to tell the truth does not normally take place at an ordinary police interview, but before the public prosecutor, before a court, or before police staff whom the Confederation or the canton has specifically designated to carry out witness examinations on the public prosecutor's behalf. If you have been summoned as a witness in this way, for example by the public prosecutor, the following applies:

At the start of every examination hearing you must be warned of your duty to tell the truth and that giving false testimony is an offence. If you are not warned, the examination hearing is invalid.

You must in principle answer all questions truthfully. In certain cases, however, witnesses too may refuse to testify, for example if they are closely related to or married to the accused, or would incriminate themselves by testifying. As soon as such a right to refuse arises from the questioning or the file, the authority must tell you of it on its own initiative.

If it emerges during questioning that you yourself may have been involved in the act, your role changes: you are then to be treated not as a witness, but as a person providing information or an accused person, with correspondingly different rights.

*Applies if: In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? → As a witness (for example before the public prosecutor)*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 142](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_142), [StPO · Art. 179](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_179), [StPO · Art. 177](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_177)

Before your first examination hearing, the police or the public prosecutor must inform you, in a language you understand, of the following: that preliminary proceedings have been opened against you, and for which offences; that you can refuse to testify and to cooperate; that you can appoint a defence lawyer or, if appropriate, apply for a duty defence lawyer; and that you can ask for an interpreter.

If you are not informed of this, that examination hearing may not be used against you.

You must be informed about the accusation in general terms and according to the current state of the proceedings; a complete legal assessment is not yet needed at this point, but a description of the facts held against you that you can understand is.

*Applies if: In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? → As an accused person (I am suspected of an offence)*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 158](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_158), [BGE 141 IV 20, E. 1.3.3](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_141_IV_20#e-1-3-3)

If you are examined by the police as an accused person, you have the right for your defence lawyer to be present and to be able to ask questions. The same applies if you are questioned as a person providing information because you yourself may have been involved in the act. If you are provisionally arrested, you may also communicate freely with your defence lawyer before and during a police examination hearing.

You must assert this right yourself; however, the police must tell you at the start of the first examination hearing that you can involve a defence lawyer. You can ask for a lawyer of your choice or, if you do not know one, ask for the on-call service of the cantonal bar association to be involved.

Asserting this right does not entitle you to have the examination hearing postponed.

*Applies if: In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? → As an accused person (I am suspected of an offence) / As a person providing information / I don't know*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 159](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_159), [StPO · Art. 158](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_158), [StPO · Art. 180](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_180)

In certain cases you must be defended, regardless of whether you want this yourself: for example if remand, including a provisional arrest, has already lasted more than 10 days, if you face a custodial sentence of more than a year or expulsion from Switzerland, or if for health or other reasons you cannot adequately look after your own interests.

If these requirements are already met when the preliminary proceedings are opened, you must be given a defence lawyer even before the first examination hearing by the public prosecutor or the police. If, in such a case, evidence was taken before a defence lawyer was appointed, it may only be used if you waive a repeat of the taking of evidence.

*Applies if: In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? → As an accused person (I am suspected of an offence)*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 130](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_130), [StPO · Art. 131](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_131)

If you do not understand the language of the proceedings well enough to defend yourself, you are entitled to an interpreter. You do not necessarily have to ask for this yourself: if your language skills are not sufficient, the authority must involve someone on its own initiative.

As an accused person, you are also told the essential content of the most important procedural steps in a language you understand, orally or in writing. There is, however, no right to a complete translation of the entire file.

*Applies if: Do you understand the language of the questioning well enough to defend yourself? → No / I don't know*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 68](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_68), [StPO · Art. 158](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_158)

Your statements are recorded as you go along, in principle in the language of the proceedings; important statements are, where possible, also recorded in the language in which you testified. Decisive questions and answers are taken down word for word.

After questioning, the record is read out to you or given to you to read. Read it carefully and have any errors corrected immediately before you sign. You then sign the record and initial every page.

You may, however, also decline to read or sign the record. In that case, your refusal and the reasons given for it are noted in the record.

Sources: [StPO · Art. 78](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_78)

No special formal requirements or time limits apply to a police summons for questioning, to establish your identity, or for forensic identification measures; the police can therefore summon you informally, for example by telephone or in writing.

If you do not comply with a police summons, the public prosecutor can order that you be brought before it by the police, provided you were warned of this in writing beforehand. If you cannot attend the appointment, contact the body that summoned you as soon as possible and give the reason.

A summons does not automatically mean you are accused: persons providing information are summoned too. Ask, when summoned or at the latest at the start of questioning, in which role you are being examined.

*Applies if: How did the police get in touch with you? → Written or telephone summons / I don't know*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 206](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_206), [StPO · Art. 143](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_143)

In the interests of investigating an offence, the police may briefly stop you and, if necessary, take you to the police station, to establish your identity, question you briefly, or determine whether you have committed an offence or are being sought. You can be required to give your personal details, produce identity documents, and show items you are carrying.

This brief stop is not a provisional arrest. However, if it gives rise to a concrete suspicion against you, it can turn into a provisional arrest; its duration then counts towards the time limits for the arrest.

You must give your personal details if the police ask for them. As for the substance itself, the rights of your role, as described above, also apply during a stop.

*Applies if: How did the police get in touch with you? → Stopped in the street / I don't know*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 215](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_215), [StPO · Art. 219](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_219)

If you are provisionally arrested, the police must establish your identity without delay, inform you in a language you understand of the reasons for the arrest, and tell you of your rights, in particular your right to remain silent and to involve a defence lawyer. The police then inform the public prosecutor immediately.

You are also entitled to have your next of kin notified of the arrest. If the enquiries show that there is no ground for detention, you are released immediately.

If the suspicion and a ground for detention are confirmed, the police bring you before the public prosecutor, which likewise questions you without delay and gives you the opportunity to comment on the suspicion.

*Applies if: How did the police get in touch with you? → Provisionally arrested / I don't know*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 219](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_219), [BV · Art. 31](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1999/404/de#art_31), [StPO · Art. 224](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_224)

## Costs

If you cannot afford your own defence lawyer, you will be appointed a duty defence lawyer if this is needed to safeguard your interests. This is the case in particular if it is not a minor matter and the case raises factual or legal difficulties you could not manage on your own. It is in any case not a minor matter if a custodial sentence of more than four months or a monetary penalty of more than 120 daily penalty units is to be expected.

The duty defence lawyer is initially paid by the state. If you are ultimately ordered to bear the costs of proceedings, you must repay this amount to the state once your financial circumstances allow it.

If you choose your own lawyer, you generally bear the fee yourself. If you are acquitted or the proceedings are discontinued, you are entitled to compensation according to the lawyers' fee tariff.

*Applies if: In what role are you to be, or were you, questioned? → As an accused person (I am suspected of an offence)*

Sources: [StPO · Art. 132](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_132), [StPO · Art. 135](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_135), [StPO · Art. 429](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_429)

## Advice

This guide does not replace personal legal advice. Involve a lawyer, if possible before your first statement on the substance, in particular if you are accused of a serious offence, if you have been arrested, if the situation is confusing for you, or if you are not sure in which role you are being questioned.

Even as a person providing information or a witness, it can be worth getting brief advice beforehand if you fear that your statement could also be used against you.

If you are under 18, criminal prosecution is governed not only by the Criminal Procedure Code but additionally by the special Juvenile Criminal Procedure Code, with its own, strengthened protective rules, for example on the involvement of your legal representative. This guide does not go into these particular features in detail.

So involve a lawyer specialising in juvenile criminal law as soon as possible, or get advice from a specialist agency for children's and young people's rights, before you testify.

*Applies if: Are you under 18 years old? → Yes*

## Help

In many cantons, the cantonal bar association runs an on-call service for criminal defence, often also called a "lawyer for the first hour": a lawyer is available around the clock to accompany you during a police examination hearing, even if you do not yet know your own defence lawyer.

In Zurich, for example, this on-call service can be reached on a telephone number staffed around the clock; the police can call this number for you on request. Ask at the start who bears the costs of this.

Whether and how such an on-call service is organised in your canton can be found out from the local police or the cantonal bar association.

## Sources

- [StPO · Art. 142](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_142)
- [StPO · Art. 143](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_143)
- [StPO · Art. 158](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_158)
- [StPO · Art. 159](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_159)
- [StPO · Art. 113](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_113)
- [StPO · Art. 177](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_177)
- [StPO · Art. 178](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_178)
- [StPO · Art. 179](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_179)
- [StPO · Art. 180](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_180)
- [StPO · Art. 181](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_181)
- [StPO · Art. 130](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_130)
- [StPO · Art. 131](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_131)
- [StPO · Art. 132](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_132)
- [StPO · Art. 68](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_68)
- [StPO · Art. 78](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_78)
- [StPO · Art. 206](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_206)
- [StPO · Art. 215](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_215)
- [StPO · Art. 219](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_219)
- [StPO · Art. 224](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_224)
- [StPO · Art. 226](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_226)
- [BV · Art. 31](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1999/404/de#art_31)
- [BGE 138 IV 47, E. 2.6.1](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_138_IV_47#e-2-6-1)
- [BGE 137 IV 118, E. 2.1](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_137_IV_118#e-2-1)
- [BGE 141 IV 20, E. 1.3.3](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_141_IV_20#e-1-3-3)
- [BGE 141 IV 20, E. 1.2.4](https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/entscheid/bge_BGE_141_IV_20#e-1-2-4)
- [StPO · Art. 135](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_135)
- [StPO · Art. 228](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_228)
- [StPO · Art. 429](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de#art_429)

## Official information

- [Fedlex: Swiss Criminal Procedure Code (StPO)](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2010/267/de)
- [Zurich Bar Association: on-call criminal defence (lawyer for the first hour)](https://www.zav.ch/de/anwaltssuche/pikett-strafverteidigung.html)

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Statute texts checked on 29 September 2026. General legal information. It does not replace individual advice.

https://swisslaw.io/en/protection/police-questioning/ · swisslaw.io, protection.police-questioning, 2026-09-29 · CC BY 4.0