European Parliament votes for enhanced protection of fair trial rights

December 14 2011

European Parliament votes for enhanced protection of fair trial rights

The European Parliament has today voted overwhelmingly in favour of an EU-wide Directive to ensure that anyone arrested in an EU country gets key information about basic legal rights and the charges against them. This Directive is the second in a series of measures under the “procedural rights Roadmap” adopted by the EU in December 2009 to ensure stronger protection of fair trial rights across Europe.

Catherine Heard, Head of Policy at Fair Trials International, said:

“If you do not understand your rights when arrested or if the charges against you are not explained, your right to a fair trial is undermined from the start. The European Parliament has a key role to play in ensuring that basic rights are better protected in criminal cases. We are delighted that Europe’s elected representatives are showing such commitment to raising standards in this much-neglected area.”

Our work on cases across the EU illustrates the serious risk of injustice that arises when people are not given early access to basic information about their legal rights or the charges against them. The extent to which suspects are informed of their rights when arrested varies hugely in different European countries. In some countries, suspects only receive oral information about their rights, in others, written information is not given unless requested, and in some countries people can be detained before trial for years before they even receive information about the case against them or access to the prosecution file. This makes effective trial preparation impossible.

For more information please contact Fair Trials International on +44 (0)20 7822 2370 or +44 (0)7950 849 851

Notes to Editors
1. In today’s vote in the Parliament, there were 663 votes in favour of adopting the Directive, 24 against and 17 abstentions. This followed a debate on the measure which took place yesterday. The Council is expected to adopt the measure in the coming weeks, following which EU countries will have two years to transpose this Directive into their national laws.

2. The Directive will ensure that police and prosecutors give suspects clear, written information about their rights. Suspects will receive a Letter of Rights on arrest, translated into their own language where necessary. The Letter of Rights will contain simple, practical information about the suspect’s rights:
• to a lawyer;
• to be informed of the charge and, when appropriate, to have access to the case-file;
• to interpretation and translation facilities, for those who do not understand the language of the proceedings; and
• to be brought promptly before a court following arrest.

To see FTI’s briefing on why this law is needed, together with several real-life case studies showing the damage that can be done to fair trial rights when this basic information is not provided, please click here.

3. The right to a fair trial and defence are set out in Articles 47 and 48 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Under Article 82(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the EU can adopt measures to strengthen the rights of EU citizens, in line with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and to facilitate the mutual recognition of judicial decisions and improve police and judicial cooperation on criminal matters having a cross border nature. European Member States today cooperate more than ever before in justice matters. This means they must be able to trust in the fairness of each other’s justice systems; equally, people facing charges in Europe must be confident they will be treated fairly, wherever they are charged. This is, unfortunately, a long way from reality. For trust to be established, basic defence rights must be guaranteed by the legal systems of every single Member State and be enforceable by nationals and non-nationals alike.

4. The “Stockholm Programme” is the five year legislative programme for EU justice and home affairs, adopted in December 2009. It provides the basis for EU legislation on justice matters between 2010 and 2014. The first defence measure – the Directive on Interpretation and Translation – was adopted on 16 June 2010. In June 2011, the Commission put forward a third measure, to guarantee access to a lawyer and to communicate with relatives (IP/11/689). The proposal is currently under discussion in Parliament and Council. Further laws are expected, covering: the right to legal aid; special safeguards for vulnerable suspects; and reform of pre-trial detention practices. To read our briefings and case studies showing why Europe must act to protect these rights, click here.

5. The European Arrest Warrant applies to all extradition requests within the European Union. It was created in the wake of 9/11 and was intended to speed up the extradition system by removing all political discretion in extradition decisions and most of the traditional legal barriers to extradition. FTI has called for additional safeguards against abuse and overuse. We have also consistently argued that Europe must continue with its ongoing program of legislation to require all EU countries to respect basic fair trial rights. It has already been used to transfer thousands of individuals, for example, Garry Mann (below). For more information on FTI’s work on the European Arrest Warrant, click here.

6. Garry Mann: Garry was arrested, tried and convicted, all in the space of 48 hours, following disturbances at the Euro 2004 football championships in Portugal. He has always maintained he was elsewhere with friends during the disturbances, but he had no chance to call them as witnesses. He was unaware that Portuguese law provided for a 1 month “stay” of proceedings to prepare a defence. Nor did Garry know what offence he was charged with until he looked over the shoulder of the court interpreter, 20 minutes before the end of the trial, and saw the words “leading a riot”. Despite a British judge labeling his original trial “unfair” there were no grounds to refuse extradition. Garry was extradited in May 2010, later transferred to the UK to complete his sentence, and finally released from prison in August 2011. For more information on Garry’s case, click here.

7. Justice in Europe campaign: Fair Trials International has long campaigned for stronger safeguards to be introduced at EU level to strengthen basic defence rights and improve extradition and detention regimes. The real-life experiences of the people we assist enable us to demonstrate the need for these safeguards.