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EU: European Commission: Right to a fair trial: New rules to guarantee presumption of innocence

12 February 2016

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"Today, Ministers from the EU Member States have adopted new rules that will guarantee the presumption of innocence of anyone accused or suspected of a crime by the police or justice authorities. The Directive also ensures that everyone benefits from the right to be present at their trial."

See the full text: Right to a fair trial: New rules to guarantee presumption of innocence (press release, pdf)

And see: previous analysis: The new Directive on the presumption of innocence: protecting the ‘golden thread’ (EU Law Analysis, link): "In this context, an EU Directive restating the importance of the presumption of innocence is a welcome step. But does this instrument go far enough? Based on the analysis above, my answer would be no. There are three key reasons for this conclusion: first, standard setting has been built on assumptions rather than based on an empirical understanding of the operation of criminal justice systems and the reasons why current standards fail; second, the Directive does not consistently shore up the basic requirements of the ECHR and its case law despite the non-regression clause in Article 12; and third, the Directive fails to reference effectively previously agreed EU instruments to create a holistic framework for the protection of fundamental rights."

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