Policy and Campaigns

Legal Experts Meet in Hungary to Discuss Advancing Defence Rights in the Region

On 20 February 2013, Fair Trials International brought together leading experts in criminal justice from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and Romania at a meeting in Budapest to share information and develop practical strategies to improve respect...

Hungarian Experts’ Concern Over Pre-Trial Detention

Defence lawyers and domestic NGOs have raised significant concerns about the use and prevalence of pre-trial detention in Hungary. Pre-trial detention is requested almost without exception by local prosecutors, even when there is litte or no...

Joint Briefing on Measure C Directive

Fair Trials International, along with other international justice and human rights NGOs, has produced a joint briefing on the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and the right to inform...

Communiqué Following Meeting in Poland to Discuss Pre-Trial Detention

Over 50% of defendants in Warsaw are unrepresented at early pre-trial detention hearings according to Fair Trials International and leading Polish criminal justice experts. The failure to provide adequate representation and the inability of the Polish...

Briefing Paper on Extradition Reform

Fair Trials has published its briefing on Extradition Reform for the Crime and Courts Bill, making a number of suggestions for amendments. In December 2011 MPs voted from across the political spectrum for reform of the...

Fair Trials’ Consultation on the Guidelines published by the DPP where the jurisdiction to prosecute is shared with prosecuting authorities overseas

Fair Trials International has published its response to the Guidelines, published by the Director of Public Prosecutions, on handling cases where jurisdiction to prosecute is shared between more than one country. The thorny question of which...

Legal Experts Meet to Discuss Vulnerable Suspects

On 28th November Fair Trials International held their latest Legal Experts meeting, to discuss the fair trial rights of vulnerable suspects within the European Union. The meeting was held at the London office of Clifford Chance...

Fair Trials Publishes Its Submission to the House of Lords Opt-out Inquiry

Fair Trials International has published its submission to the House of Lords Inquiry into the UK’s 2014 Opt-out Decision (Protocol 36). The submission recognises the complexity of the issues raised by the opt-out, but highlights the...

Spanish meeting on pre-trial detention

  Fair Trials International recently brought together 14 criminal justice experts from across Spain, to discuss pre-trial detention in law and practice. Spain is one of the many EU Member States in which Fair Trials has previously...

Defence rights in Europe: towards a law guaranteeing the right to a lawyer and to communicate with consular staff and others on arrest

In June 2011 the European Union released a draft Directive on an individual’s right to both legal advice and communication on arrest, as part of its ‘Roadmap’ to ensure stronger protection of of the rights of...