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EU: European Commission: Right to a fair trial: New rules to guarantee presumption of innocence
12 February 2016
"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."