Criminal law translation. Documents in criminal proceedings, from one language to another

Criminal proceedings are conducted in the language of the canton, but accused persons, witnesses and exhibits do not always speak it. Case files and summary penalty orders circulate in translation, and Corrext processes them in Switzerland.

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Each term, in the official text

Highlight a term used in criminal proceedings: CHnell shows its German version in the same official text, with its source.

ministère publicFrenchGerman704 results

Les autorités chargées de la poursuite pénale sont le ministère public, le ministère public des mineurs, la police et les juges de paix.

Strafverfolgungsbehörden sind die Staatsanwaltschaft, die Jugendanwaltschaft, die Polizei und die Friedensrichter.

SR-131.221 Constitution-du-canton-de-Soleure-du-8-juin-1986 - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

À l’échelon fédéral, le ministère public est le Ministère public de la Confédération.

Staatsanwaltschaft des Bundes ist die Bundesanwaltschaft.

SR-173.71 StBOG-LOAP-LOAP - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

Les ministères publics des cantons, le Ministère public de la Confédération et l’Office de l’auditeur en chef pour la justice militaire communiquent à fedpol, en vue de l’évaluation au sens de l’art. 20a de la loi sur les profils d’ADN, les décisions prononcées en vertu de l’art. 255, al. 3, 256, 258a ou 258b CPP ou 73s, al. 2, 73t, 73w ou 73x de la procédure pénale militaire du 23 mars 1979.

Die Staatsanwaltschaften der Kantone, die Bundesanwaltschaft sowie das Oberauditorat für die Militärjustiz melden fedpol im Hinblick auf die Evaluation nach Artikel 20a des DNA-Profil-Gesetzes die Verfügungen, die gestützt auf Artikel 255 Absatz 3, 256, 258a oder 258b StPO oder auf Artikel 73s Absatz 2, 73t, 73w oder 73x des Militärstrafprozesseses vom 23. März 1979 erlassen wurden.

SR-363.1 Ordonnance-du-3-décembre-2004-sur-lutilisation-de-profils-dADN-dans-les-procédure - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

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Criminal law vocabulary in four languages

Italian does not model the names of procedural documents on French: the summary penalty order is a decreto d'accusa and the indictment an atto d'accusa. These equivalents are those of the official text. The English column uses the translation published by the Confederation on Fedlex where there is one, which has no legal force, and common usage otherwise.

German	French	Italian	English	Reference
beschuldigte Person	prévenu	imputato	accused person	art. 111 CPP
Staatsanwaltschaft	ministère public	pubblico ministero	public prosecutor	art. 12 CPP
Untersuchungshaft	détention provisoire	carcerazione preventiva	remand	art. 220 CPP
Einstellungsverfügung	ordonnance de classement	decreto di abbandono	ruling abandoning proceedings	art. 319 CPP
Anklageschrift	acte d'accusation	atto d'accusa	indictment	art. 325 CPP
Strafbefehl	ordonnance pénale	decreto d'accusa	summary penalty order	art. 352 CPP
Betrug	escroquerie	truffa	fraud	art. 146 CP
ungetreue Geschäftsbesorgung	gestion déloyale	amministrazione infedele	criminal mismanagement	art. 158 CP

Equivalents taken from official Swiss texts, published in German, French and Italian. In Corrext, each term opens in context in Fast lookup CHnell, with its source.

The acts criminal proceedings cite every day

Swiss criminal law rests on a substantive code and a procedural code unified since 2011. International mutual assistance and the fight against money laundering add their own acts and their own vocabulary.

SCC

Swiss Criminal Code

DEStGBFR · ITCP

It defines offences and penalties, from offences against property to money laundering

CrimPC

Swiss Criminal Procedure Code

DEStPOFR · ITCPP

It governs the investigation, procedural acts, detention and judgment in every canton

IMAC

Federal Act on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters

DEIRSG

It governs requests made to Switzerland, or by Switzerland to a foreign state

AMLA

Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

DEGwGFRLBA

It sets the obligations whose breach gives rise to many white-collar crime proceedings

Translating criminal proceedings, in practice

Swiss criminal law translation deals with procedural documents whose legal nature is precise: summary penalty order, indictment, ruling abandoning proceedings, decision on detention. The Swiss Criminal Code (SCC) and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrimPC) are published in German, French and Italian. Each document has an official name in each of these languages.

Procedural documents

Investigation file
The file goes into File translation in batches and comes back in its original format, with pagination and exhibit numbering preserved.
Records of hearings
A hearing conducted in one language is read in another by the defence. Translation helps you prepare; human review is for what you file.
Summary penalty order
The time limit for filing an objection (Einsprache) is short. Instant translation of the pasted text lets you decide without waiting. Up to 10,000 characters per text translation.
Indictment
The indictment defines the subject matter of the trial. Its translation goes through a Full review, or Double review & certified translation if an attestation is required.
International mutual assistance
A request for mutual assistance is addressed to a foreign authority and must use its vocabulary as much as the Swiss vocabulary.

What Corrext brings to this area

Financial evidence

White-collar crime files mix statements, contracts and reports. The .xls and .xlsx formats are handled like Word documents.

Confidential investigation

Highly sensitive content mode requires storage and processing in Switzerland only, with no reuse of the content in a memory.

Sourced terminology

The Criminal Law and Litigation & Enforcement domains of the CHnell concordancer give the official usage of each term, with its source.

Three stages of criminal proceedings that require translation

Defence

An investigation in another language

The case is investigated in German and the accused is defended by a lawyer from French-speaking Switzerland. Batches go into File translation in Highly sensitive content mode, and the defence reads everything before choosing which documents to have reviewed.

Time limit

Ten days to contest a summary penalty order

The time limit for filing an objection leaves no time to wait for an external translation. The text is pasted straight into Text and document translation, the decision is taken the same day, and only the objection actually filed goes through a legal translator.

International

A request for mutual assistance

The request must be understood by a foreign authority while staying true to the legal classifications of Swiss law. The concordancer shows the terms of the SCC and the CrimPC in context, and the version sent goes through a Full review.

Frequently asked questions on criminal law translation

Can a machine translation be filed in the case record?

Its first purpose is to help you understand the case. A document filed with the criminal justice authority must be reliable and, depending on the case, attested. It then goes through a Full review by a legal translator, or Double review & certified translation when the court requires a certified translation.

How do I protect the confidentiality of the investigation?

Storage is on Swiss servers in every case. Highly sensitive content mode also requires processing in Switzerland only, with no reuse of the content in a translation memory. Before anything is sent, engines hosted abroad display the Attorney-Client privilege notice, which reminds users of your organisation's policy.

Are the names of procedural documents harmonised?

The Criminal Procedure Code has applied throughout Switzerland since 2011 and is published in the three official languages, which fixes the name of each document. The concordancer shows these occurrences in context, with their source, in the Criminal Law and Litigation & Enforcement domains.

Can I process a case file of several thousand pages?

Yes, in batches: up to 25 files of 50 MB per upload in Text and document translation, or through a translation project for end-to-end tracking with quote and review. Documents come back in their original format, which preserves exhibit numbering.

What about scanned or poor-quality documents?

The PDF to Word tab converts a scanned PDF into an editable Word document before translation or annotation. This is common for seized documents, old correspondence and annexes sent as images by a foreign authority. The resulting document is then translated like a native file.

Which languages for international proceedings?

German, French, Italian and English are native in every pair, and the platform covers 30 languages in total. The legal classifications, however, remain those of Swiss law, which the concordancer lets you check article by article. Documents come back in their original format, whatever the source language.