Obowiązek zachowania tajemnicy adwokackiej jako okoliczność uzasadniająca odmowę zeznań w trybie art. 180 § 2 k.p.k.

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the institution of refusal to testify by a witness in criminal proceedings with indication to the obligation to keep the advocate’s professional secrecy. The refusal itself, though it constitutes an obstacle to the reaching of the material truth, stems from the special character of the profession of an advocate which belongs to the group of the so-called professions of public trust. The paper stresses the ambiguous relationship between corporation regulations and the provisions of the Polish Code of Criminal Proceedings from 1997 and two forms of the secrecy are distinguished, i.e. the strict attorney’s secrecy and the secrecy of the legal defence. The imprecise conditions for releasing a person from the advocate’s secrecy on the basis of Art. 180 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Proceedings have been criticised.