FAIR

enhancing the FAIR TRIAL FOR PEOPLE SUSPECTED OR ACCUSED OF CRIME

In 2009 the Justice Council of the European Union adopted a Roadmap on procedural rights. The document came to propose legislative measures to enhance the procedural rights of the persons suspected or accused of crime. This action was incentivised by the common aspiration to facilitate the judicial cooperation between Member States and primarily to boost their mutual trust. The FAIR proposal strives to enhance institutional practice by implementing numerous activities aimed at the better understanding of procedural rights to be considered. The concept of the current proposal revolves around the comprehension that the best safeguard is to make information available and improve the understanding about these rights among individuals suspected or accused of crime. Therefore, the main objective of the FAIR proposal is to develop a multilingual information tool, which will introduce persons suspected or accused of crime to the nature of their procedural rights.

Anticipated results

To ensure a fair trial to persons suspected or accused of crime (PSAC) by informing them about their rights enhancing the quality of criminal investigation from a legal and human rights perspective;
To contribute to the practical application of Directive 2013/48/EU; Directive 2010/64/EU; Directive 2012/13/EU; Directive (EU) 2016/343; Directive (EU) 2016/800; Directive (EU) 2016/1919, which establish minimum standards for procedural rights in criminal proceedings;
To empower PSAC through knowledge of their rights by providing information in different languages in timely manner;
To develop a multilingual tool to be used in detention centres and other sites;
To elaborate a best practices handbook and thereby inspire exchange among partner countries;
To create a network of professionals to transfer knowledge within their networks.