The course was developed by the Council of Europe HELP Programme with the EU support, using the HELP methodology and combines both the fundamental procedural rights of accused and suspected persons in criminal proceedings (focusing on EU Directive topics, notably the presumption of innocence) and the rights of victims of crime (emphasis on access to justice).
The course is primarily addressed to judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, but can be also interesting for other legal professionals as well as university students and civil society organisations.
The course consists of 6 modules. The first two sections are devoted to Introduction and General Aspects of a Fair Trial, as well as 4 modules of Specific Rights and Victims’ Rights.
Module 1 – Introduction
- Legal Framework and CoE-EU relationship
- Key concepts
Module 2 – General Aspects of a Fair Trial
- Legal framework
- Institutional guarantee
- Procedural guarantees
- Fairness (Administration of Evidence; Adversarial Proceedings; Equality of Arms; Reasoning)
- Public Hearing
Module 3 – Specific Rights/Procedural Safeguards I – The Presumption of Innocence
- Legal basis
- What does it cover? (Unbiased Approached to the Accused; Burden of Proof; Public References to Guilt; Presentation of the Suspect or Accused)
- Remedies against breach
Module 4 – Specific Rights/Procedural Safeguards II
- Legal Basis
- Specific Rights (Right to Information; Right to Remain Silent and Not to Incriminate Oneself; Right of Access to a Lawyer; Right to Legal Aid; Right to Interpretation and Translation)
Module 5 – Specific Rights/Procedural Safeguards III
- Specific rights (Right to Examine Witnesses; Right to be present at Trial; Right to Appeal; Right to an Effective Remedy)
- Protection in the European Arrest warrant (EAW) Proceedings
Module 6 – Victims’ Rights
- Key concepts
- Context for victims’ rights in Europe
- Victims’ needs
- Victims’ rights in the CoE framework and in EU law (Right to Respectful Treatment; Right to Protection; Right to Support; Right of Access to Justice; Right to Restoration)
The Ukrainian translation of the course is publicly available on the HELP online platform http://help.elearning.ext.coe.int/. To access the course, it is necessary to open a HELP account if it has not been done yet.
The course was translated within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Human Rights Compliant Criminal Justice System in Ukraine”, which is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022.
