Training of lawyers on EU instruments on procedural rights in criminal proceedings

ended

Context According to the European Commission (EC)’s factsheet of 2018, “across the European Union (EU) every year, 9 million people face criminal proceedings”. This means that 9 million accused or suspected persons in the EU every year require legal representation to ensure their minimum rights, such as access to a lawyer, presumption of innocence or legal aid. At the same time, the ever-increasing need for cross-border cooperation in criminal cases is reflected in the skyrocketing use of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), the most used EU instrument of mutual recognition in criminal matters (for instance, in 2015 it was issued over 16 thousand times). Overall objectives This project aims to train 360 lawyers from 7 Member States on the following instruments on procedural rights in criminal proceedings: • Directive 2013/48/EU on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in EAW proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty • Directive (EU) 2016/343 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings • Directive (EU) 2016/1919 on legal aid for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings and for requested persons in EAW proceedings The overall objective will be achieved through the pursuit of the following specific objectives: - To train 360 lawyers through the holding of 12 seminars in 7 EU Member States on the 3 procedural rights directives and the impact of the EAW - To produce training material: (i) national factsheets on the application of the 3 procedural rights directives in the 7 partner countries and (ii) training content resulting from the seminars - To create informal networks of criminal lawyers from 7 countries attending the seminars - To raise awareness about the project and its activities