Aditus, a Malta-based NGO focused on human rights, has urged the Maltese authorities to revise their position with regard to the proposed EU Directive on the rights of access to a lawyer and of notification of custody to a third person in criminal proceedings.
Malta's position, as reported in The Times today, rests on the view that recognising the right to a lawyer from the start of police investigations would hamper criminal investigations. Together with a number of other EU Member States, Malta also feels that such a right is additional to those currently recognised by the European Court of Human Rights, and would tip the balance in favour of the interests of criminal suspects and against those of society.
Aditus said it aligns itself with the views expressed on 29th September by Amnesty International (European Institutions Office), the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, JUSTICE, Fair Trials International, Open Society Justice Initiative and the European Criminal Bar Association in their open letter to various Member State governments.
"Aditus draws the Maltese government's attention to the increased effectiveness of criminal proceedings through a lawyer's monitoring presence resulting in the avoidance of mistrials, retrials and miscarriages of justice. Furthermore, as evidenced by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, it is during early stages in criminal proceedings that criminal suspects are more acutely at risk of ill treatment."
It added that in view of these heightened risks, a lawyer's presence is a precious safeguard.
"Whereas it could be accepted that the proposed Directive goes beyond the standards of the European Convention of Human Rights, this in no way automatically implies that the EU should limit itself to such standards.
Neil Falzon, chairman, said that on the contrary, the EU's grounded base in fundamental human rights, as enshrined in the very progressive Charter on Fundamental Rights, ought to provide inspiration for EU governments to constantly strive to improve and harmonise human rights standards across
the twenty-seven Member States".