28 March 2012
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Civil Rights
and the current emergency - letter from Fair Trails Abroad
26th September 2001
Open Letter to
The Prime Minister
Ian Duncan Smith MP
Charles Kennedy MP
Gentlemen;
CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE CURRENT EMERGENCY
As this letter is being written the party conference season is
in full swing and Parliament is being recalled. Security measures
involving wider European interests as well as national interests
are top of the agenda. Security is the concern of us all and
we agree that part of the immediate way forward is to is to get
measures in place to prevent any further attacks by terrorists.
However, careful consideration must be given to the implementation
of parallel, suitable civil liberties safeguards.
Fair Trials Abroad is a unique legal rights organisation concerned
with the rights of European citizens to due administration of
justice when facing criminal trial whilst travelling abroad.
Current plans to promote the Eurowarrant and abolition of extradition
safeguards within the Union is fraught with danger for innocent
citizens. These measures rest on two assumptions: that the standards
set by the European Court in Strasbourg are being implemented
in practice throughout the Union and that a high level of democratic
involvement and respect for the rule of law exists uniformly
throughout all Member States.
All our casework and research experience provides compelling evidence that the ECHR is unable to protect the legal rights of the defendant in the current case by case approach of the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg. Principles embraced by the law on fair trial are routinely ignored or ill served. Access to justice and a fair trial is not routine in cases where the defendant is not a citizen of the country in which the alleged offence has occurred: competent legal advice on legal aid is rarely provided and interpreting and translation services are at best, minimum.
Already the news is full of arrests and detention in relation
to terrorist offences within the UK and elsewhere and over the
coming months it is inevitable that many innocent British and
other European Citizens, mainly of Arabic roots or connections,
will be required for questioning by the authorities and eventually
eliminated from enquiries.
The Eurowarrant would not only expose increasing numbers of innocent
citizens from EU countries to such abuse of their fundamental
rights as inadequate interpretation, but they would also have
been uprooted from their own country to spend weeks if not months
in a foreign prison whilst the investigation goes on.
We would call for a system of arrest and questioning in the country
of the accused, with measures put in place for the evidence to
be brought to the home court of the person rather than have the
person transferred to the country(ies) where the evidence was
found. It will therefore make it possible for citizens to be
investigated, arrested and tried if necessary at home thus minimising
the effects of mistakes and miscarriages of justice.
Furthermore, priority must be given to the upgrading and harmonisation
of police investigation methods and evidence collection in many
current EU member states (and the majority of candidate nations)
in order to ensure safe convictions across the European Union.
In due course, and only when basic fundamental rights have been
secured in practice as well as in principle throughout the Union,
should consideration be given to the dismantling of safeguards
inherent in current measures of extradition.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jakobi
Director
BENCH HOUSE HAM STREET o RICHMOND SURREY oTW10 7HR
TELEPHONE: 44 (0) 208 3322800 · FACSIMILE: 44(0) 208 332
2810
E-MAIL: STEPHENJAKOBI@COMPUSERVE.COM
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