IX. The Right to a Fair Trial
Relevant international provisions:
Article 10 UDHR:
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and
impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal
charge against him.
Article 14 ICCPR:
1. All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any
criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be
entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal
established by law. The press and the public may be excluded from all or part of a trial for
reasons of morals, public order (ordre public) or national security in a democratic society, or
when the interest of the private lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly necessary
in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the
interests of justice; but any judgement rendered in a criminal case or in a suit at law shall be
made public except where the interest of juvenile persons otherwise requires or the proceedings
concern matrimonial disputes or the guardianship of children.
2. Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to be presumed innocent until
proved guilty according to law.
3. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone shall be entitled to the
following minimum guarantees, in full equality: (a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a
language which he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against him;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and to communicate
with counsel of his own choosing;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of
his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to
have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and
without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it;
(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and
examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;
(f) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language
used in court;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.
4. In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age
and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation.
5. Everyone convicted of a crime shall have the right to his conviction and sentence being
reviewed by a higher tribunal according to law.
6. When a person has by a final decision been convicted of a criminal offence and when
subsequently his conviction has been reversed or he has been pardoned on the ground that a
new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice,
the person who has suffered punishment as a result of such conviction shall be compensated
according to law, unless it is proved that the non-disclosure of the unknown fact in time is
wholly or partly attributable to him.
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