The European Court of Human Rights’ case-law regarding restrictions on the right to prompt legal assistance during police custody

Authors

  • Antonio Martínez Santos Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/redc.118.04

Keywords:

Legal assistance, procedural safeguards, fair trial, rights of defence, police custody, European Court of Human Rights.

Abstract

Over the past few years, the European Court of Human Rights has been confronted repeatedly with the question of whether restrictions on the right to legal assistance during police custody constitute a breach of Articles 6.1 and 6.3 c) of the European Convention on Human Rights. In its landmark decision in Salduz v Turkey, the Court seemed to hold that any unjustified denial of access to counsel during police interrogation entails in itself a violation of the Convention, irrespective of its subsequent impact on the proceedings. However, later judgments of the ECtHR cast significant doubts as to the real scope of the transformation that Salduz seemed to imply. This paper analyses the development of Strasbourg’s case law concerning restrictions on the right of access to a lawyer in the early stages of pre-trial arrest.

Published

2020-04-27

Issue

Section

STUDIES