III. Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
2. Personal and Political Freedoms and Rights
Article 29
Everyone shall be entitled have his or her rights and obligations, or suspicion or accusation of a criminal offence decided upon fairly before a legally established, independent and impartial court within a reasonable period.
In the case of suspicion or accusation of a criminal offence, the suspected, accused or indicted person shall be entitled:
–to be informed in detail and in a language he/she understands, within the shortest possible term, of the nature and grounds for the charges against him/her and the evidence incriminating him, /her,
–to have adequate time and opportunity to prepare his/her defence,
-to defence counsel and unrestricted communication therewith, and to be informed of this right,
– to mount his/her own defence independently or with the assistance of a defence counsel of his/her own choice, and if he/she lacks the resources to engage such counsel, to have free counsel provided under the conditions specified by law,
–to be present at his/her trial insofar as he/she is at the disposal of the court,
–to interrogate or to arrange for interrogation of witnesses for the prosecution and to demand the attendance and questioning of defence witnesses under the same conditions which apply to witnesses for the prosecution,
–to assistance by an interpreter free of charge insofar as he/she does not understand the language used in the court.
An admission of guilt may not be coerced from a suspected, accused or indicted individual. Evidence obtained illegally may not be admitted in court proceedings.
Criminal proceedings may only be initiated before the court at the request of an authorized prosecutor.
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.