Innocent until proven guilty: 'Yes', says European Parliament
8 Apr 2014 01:18 PM
The European Parliament's Committee on Legal
Affairs (JURI) has backed the European Commission's proposal to guarantee
respect for the presumption of innocence. The Committee voted by 13 in
favour of an opinion backing the proposal (to 0 votes against and 0
abstentions).
Welcoming the vote, Vice-President Viviane Reding, the
EU's Justice Commissioner said: "The Commission and the
European Parliament are joining forces to deliver stronger rights for
Europe's 507 million citizens. Today's vote paves the way towards
putting in place a series of procedural rights which will apply to all citizens
who are caught in criminal proceedings, throughout the European Union. We are
building a true European area of justice. This proposal will make sure that the
core principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ is made effective
across the EU. Citizens should expect a similar level of protection when they
travel in Europe as they find at home. It is now up to Justice Ministers to
advance this proposal so it can swiftly become
law."
The
proposal aims to guarantee respect for the presumption of innocence of all
citizens suspected or accused by police and judicial authorities, and the right
to be present at trial. It will in particular guarantee that (1) guilt cannot
be inferred by any official decisions or statements before a final conviction;
(2) the burden of proof is placed on the prosecution and any doubt benefits the
suspect or accused person; (3) the right to remain silent is guaranteed and not
used against suspects to secure conviction; and (4) the accused has the right
to be present at the trial.
The
proposal is part of a package of measures to further strengthen safeguards for
citizens in criminal proceedings (MEMO/13/1046). The other proposals in the package aim to make sure
children have special safeguards when facing criminal proceedings and guarantee
access of suspects and accused to provisional legal aid at the early stages of
proceedings and especially for people subject to a European Arrest
Warrant.
Next steps: Following the opinion by
the Legal Affairs Committee, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home
Affairs (LIBE) will adopt its report on the proposal in the coming weeks. The
proposal will then be voted on by the European Parliament in plenary
session.
Background
There are over 9 million criminal proceedings in the
European Union every year. On 9 March 2010, the European Commission made the
first step in a series of measures to set common EU standards in all criminal
proceedings. The Commission proposed rules that would oblige EU countries to
provide full interpretation and translation services to suspects (IP/10/249, MEMO/10/70). The proposal was adopted in a record time of nine
months by the European Parliament and the Council and Member States have had
three years to adopt these rules, rather than the usual two years, to give
authorities time to put translated information in place (IP/13/995).
The
law was followed by a second Directive on the right to information in criminal
proceedings, adopted in 2012 (IP/12/575), and then by a third Directive on the right to access to
a lawyer and on the right to communicate, when deprived of liberty, with
family members and with consular authorities, adopted in 2013 (IP/13/921).
On
27 November 2013 the Commission proposed a package of measures to complete fair
trial rights in criminal proceedings (SPEECH/13/986). The package consisted of a proposal for a Directive
to strengthen the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at
trial; a proposal for Directive on special safeguards for children; a proposal
for a Directive on the right to provisional legal aid; a Recommendation on
procedural safeguards for vulnerable people; and a Recommendation on the right
to legal aid.
Without minimum common standards to ensure fair
proceedings, judicial authorities will be reluctant to trust in each
other's judicial systems and decisions and thus send someone to face trial
in another country. As a result, EU measures to fight crime – such as the
European Arrest Warrant – may not be fully applied.
For
more information
Delivering stronger procedural rights across the
Union:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/events/assises-justice-2013/files/factsheets/
criminal_law_en.pdf
European Commission – Criminal law
policy:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/criminal/criminal-law-policy
Homepage of Vice-President Viviane Reding, EU Justice
Commissioner:
http://ec.europa.eu/reding
Follow the Vice-President on Twitter: @VivianeRedingEU
Follow EU Justice on Twitter: @EU_Justice