Chapter II
Fundamental Rights, Freedoms and Duties
ยง 21.
Everyone who has been deprived of his or her liberty must be informed promptly, in a language and manner which he or she understands, of the reason for the deprivation of liberty and of his or her rights, and be given an opportunity to notify those closest to him or her. A person suspected of a criminal offence must also be promptly given an opportunity to choose a counsel and to confer with him or her. The right of a person suspected of a criminal offence to notify those closest to him or her of the deprivation of liberty may be circumscribed only in the cases and pursuant to a procedure provided by law to prevent a criminal offence or in the interests of ascertaining the truth in a criminal case.
No one may be held in custody for more than forty-eight hours without a specific authorisation of a court. The decision of the court must be promptly communicated to the person in custody in a language and manner which he or she understands.
1. The official languages of the Court shall be Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The judgements of the Court, as well as other decisions resolving fundamental issues before the Court, shall be published in the official languages. The Presidency shall, in accordance with the criteria established by the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, determine which decisions may be considered as resolving fundamental issues for the purposes of this paragraph.
2. The working languages of the Court shall be English and French. The Rules of Procedure and Evidence shall determine the cases in which other official languages may be used as working languages.
3. At the request of any party to a proceeding or a State allowed to intervene in a proceeding, the Court shall authorize a language other than English or French to be used by such a party or State, provided that the Court considers such authorization to be adequately justified.
2. Where there are grounds to believe that a person has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court and that person is about to be questioned either by the Prosecutor, or by national authorities pursuant to a request made under Part 9, that person shall also have the following rights of which he or she shall be informed prior to being questioned:
(c) To have legal assistance of the person's choosing, or, if the person does not have legal assistance, to have legal assistance assigned to him or her, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by the person in any such case if the person does not have sufficient means to pay for it; and
2. Requests for cooperation and any documents supporting the request shall either be in or be accompanied by a translation into an official language of the requested State or one of the working languages of the Court, in accordance with the choice made by that State upon ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. Subsequent changes to this choice shall be made in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.