Swiss Criminal Procedure Code

¹A private claimant is a per­son suf­fer­ing harm who ex­pressly de­clares that he or she wishes to par­ti­cip­ate in the crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings as a crim­in­al or civil claimant.

²The fil­ing of a crim­in­al com­plaint is re­garded as be­ing equi­val­ent to such a de­clar­a­tion.

³The de­clar­a­tion must be made to a crim­in­al justice au­thor­ity by the end of the pre­lim­in­ary pro­ceed­ings at the latest.

⁴If a per­son suf­fer­ing harm has not made a de­clar­a­tion of his or her own vo­li­tion, so the pub­lic pro­sec­utor shall ad­vise the per­son of this pos­sib­il­ity after open­ing the pre­lim­in­ary pro­ceed­ings.