TITLE III: DECLARATIONS, RIGHTS, AND GUARANTEES
CHAPTER II: Individual Rights
Article 68
Every person has the right to have his physical, mental, and moral integrity
respected.
No one shall be subjected to torture, or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment
or treatment.
Every person deprived of his liberty shall be treated with respect for the inherent
dignity of the human person.
TITLE III: DECLARATIONS, RIGHTS, AND GUARANTEES
CHAPTER II: Individual Rights
Article 69
Personal freedom is inviolable and may be restricted or temporarily suspended only
according to law.
Article 71
No one may be detained nor held incommunicado for longer than twenty-four hours
after his detainment, without being freed or placed at the order of the competent
authority to begin his process of trial. By exception, this term shall be extended by
the competent authority to forty-eight hours when it is regarding crimes of complex
investigation, due to a multitude of related facts, difficulty in obtaining proof, or
because of a high number of suspects or victims.
The measure of exceptionalness shall be developed in the Procedural Penal Code.
Judicial detention to question may not exceed six days counted from the moment in
which it is begun.
TITLE III: DECLARATIONS, RIGHTS, AND GUARANTEES
CHAPTER II: Individual Rights
Article 82
The right of defense is inviolable.
The inhabitants of the Republic have free access to the courts to bring actions in
accordance with law.
Article 83
The State shall appoint counsel to defend the poor and to protect the persons and
interests of minors and the incompetent. They shall give legal assistance to them and
represent them judicially in defense of their personal liberty and other rights.
Article 84
No one may be arrested or detained except by virtue of a warrant from a competent
authority, issued in accordance with the legal formalities and for reasons previously
established by law.
Notwithstanding, a person in flagrante delicto may be apprehended by anyone, for
the sole purpose of being handed over to the authority.
The arrested or detained must be informed upon arrest and with total clarity of his
rights and the charges against him; furthermore, the authorities must permit him to
report his detention to a relative or to a person of his choice.
Article 85
No one may be detained or imprisoned in places other than those established by law.
Article 88
Duress or coercion of any type to obtain confessions shall not be employed.
No one may be required, in criminal, disciplinary or police matters, to testify against
himself, his spouse or household companion, nor against his relatives within the
fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity.
Testimony given only before a competent judge shall be evidence.
Testimony obtained in violation of any of these principles shall be null, and those
responsible shall incur the penalties established by law.
Article 89
Every person shall be presumed innocent so long as his guilt has not been declared
by the competent authority.
Article 90
No person may be tried except by a competent judge or tribunal, with the formalities,
rights and guarantees established by law.
Article 94
No one may be punished without having been heard and convicted in a trial, and
without final sentence imposed by a judge or competent authority.
In cases of contempt of court, and other measures of a similar nature in civil or labor
matters, as in cases involving fines or police arrest, the defendant shall always be
heard.
Article 95
No one shall be punished with penalty not previously established by law, nor be tried
a second time for the same punishable acts for which a previous trial was held.
Article 96
No law has retroactive effect, except in criminal matters when the new law favors
the defendant.
Article 97
Infamous, proscriptive and confiscatory punishment is forbidden.
The punishment of perpetual deprivation of liberty is established. The penal law shall
determine its application for those crimes in which commission occurs in grave,
offensive, and degrading circumstances and through their impact cause commotion,
rejection, indignation, and repugnance in the national community.
Punishments that deprive liberty for simple crimes and those accumulated for
various crimes shall be fixed in the Penal Law.
Article 98
No person may be detained, arrested or imprisoned for obligations that do not arise
from crimes or offenses.
TITLE IV: CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES
CHAPTER I: Habeas Corpus, Habeas Data and Amparo
Article 182
The State recognizes the guarantee of habeas corpus or personal appearance and of
habeas data. Consequently, in habeas corpus or personal appearance, every
aggrieved person, or any other in his behalf, has the right to file the petition; and in
habeas data only may the person whose personal or familiar information are in
archives, public or private registries in the following manner:
1. Habeas Corpus or Personal Appearance
a. When he is illegally imprisoned, detained or restrained in any way in
the enjoyment of his freedom; and
b. When during his lawful imprisonment or detention, the imprisoned or
detained person is subjected to torment, torture, harassment, illegal
demands, or any other coercion or molestation that is unnecessary for
his personal safety or for the order of the prison.
2. Habeas Data
All persons have the right to access information about themselves or their
property that is already contained in databases, public or private registries
in an expedited and non-onerous manner, and in cases where it is necessary
to access, correct, or remove it. This may not affect the privacy of
journalistic information sources.
A writ of habeas corpus or habeas data may be filed without requiring any special
power or any formality, either orally or in writing, using any means of
communication, at any time during working or nonworking days and free of charge.
Only the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice may take
cognizance of the protections of habeas data; it has the unavoidable obligation of
proceeding immediately to stop any violation of the rights of honor, personal or
familiar privacy, a one’s own image.
The authorities of courts may not dismiss a petition for a writ of habeas corpus or
personal appearance and additionally have the inescapable duty of proceeding
immediately to put an end to the violation of one's personal liberty or personal
safety.
In both cases, the authorities of the courts that fail to admit these constitutional
petitions shall incur the corresponding criminal and administrative liability.
Authorities that order and agents who undertake the concealment of the detained
person, or who in any other way violate this guarantee shall be guilty of the offense
of illegal detention.
Artículo 88. No se ejercerá violencia ni coacción de ninguna clase sobre las personas para forzarlas a declarar.
Nadie puede ser obligado en asunto penal, disciplinario o de policía, a declarar contra sí mismo, contra su cónyuge o compañero de hogar, ni contra sus parientes dentro del cuarto grado de consanguinidad o segundo de afinidad.
Sólo hará prueba la declaración rendida ante juez competente.
Toda declaración obtenida con infracción de cualesquiera de estas disposiciones, es nula y los responsables incurrirán en las penas que establezca la ley.
Artículo 89. Toda persona es inocente mientras no se haya declarado su responsabilidad por autoridad competente.
Artículo 90. Nadie puede ser juzgado sino por Juez o Tribunal competente con las formalidades, derechos y garantías que la Ley establece.
Se reconoce el fuero de guerra para los delitos y faltas de orden militar. En ningún caso los tribunales militares podrán extender su jurisdicción sobre personas que no estén en servicio activo en las fuerzas Armadas.
Articulo 91. Cuando en un delito o falta de orden militar, estuviese implicado un civil o un militar de baja, conocerá del caso la autoridad competente del fuero común.
Artículo 92. Solo podrá decretarse Auto de Formal Procesamiento, cuando exista evidencia probatoria de la existencia de un delito e indicios racionales de que el imputado es autor o cómplice.
En la misma forma se hará la declaratoria de reo.
Artículo 93. Aún con auto de prisión, ninguna persona puede ser llevada a la cárcel ni detenida en ella, si otorga caución suficiente, de conformidad con la Ley.
Artículo 94. A nadie se impondrá pena alguna sin haber sido oído y vencido en juicio, y sin que le haya sido impuesta por resolución ejecutoria de juez o autoridad competente.
En los casos de apremio y otras medidas de igual naturaleza en materia civil o laboral, así como en los de multa o arresto en materia de policía, siempre deberá ser oído el afectado.
Artículo 303. La potestad de impartir justicia emana del pueblo y se imparte gratuitamente en nombre del Estado, por magistrado y jueces independientes, únicamente sometidos a la Constitución y las leyes. El Poder Judicial se integra por una Corte Suprema de Justicia, por las Cortes de Apelaciones, los juzgados, por tribunales con competencia exclusiva en zonas del país sujetas a regímenes especiales creados por la Constitución de la República y además dependencia que señale la Ley.
La potestad de impartir justicia en materia electoral y consultas ciudadanas corresponde al Tribunal de Justicia Electoral, creado en esta Constitución en los casos y con las limitaciones que señala la ley.
En ningún juicio debe haber más de dos instancias; el juez o magistrado que haya ejercido jurisdicción en una de ellas, no podrá conocer en la otra, ni en recurso extraordinario en el mismo asunto, sin incurrir en responsabilidad.
Tampoco pueden juzgar en una misma causa los cónyuges y los parientes dentro del cuarto grado de consanguinidad o segundo de afinidad.
1. In respect of an investigation under this Statute, a person:
(a) Shall not be compelled to incriminate himself or herself or to confess guilt;
(b) Shall not be subjected to any form of coercion, duress or threat, to torture or to any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
(c) Shall, if questioned in a language other than a language the person fully understands and speaks, have, free of any cost, the assistance of a competent interpreter and such translations as are necessary to meet the requirements of fairness; and
(d) Shall not be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and shall not be deprived of his or her liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established in this Statute.
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:
(a) To be informed, prior to being questioned, that there are grounds to believe that he or she has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(b) To remain silent, without such silence being a consideration in the determination of guilt or innocence;
(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
(d) To be questioned in the presence of counsel unless the person has voluntarily waived his or her right to counsel.
1. The accused shall be present during the trial.
2. If the accused, being present before the Court, continues to disrupt the trial, the Trial Chamber may remove the accused and shall make provision for him or her to observe the trial and instruct counsel from outside the courtroom, through the use of communications technology, if required. Such measures shall be taken only in exceptional circumstances after other reasonable alternatives have proved inadequate, and only for such duration as is strictly required.
1. Everyone shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty before the Court in accordance with the applicable law.
2. The onus is on the Prosecutor to prove the guilt of the accused.
3. In order to convict the accused, the Court must be convinced of the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
1. In the determination of any charge, the accused shall be entitled to a public hearing, having regard to the provisions of this Statute, to a fair hearing conducted impartially, and to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail of the nature, cause and content of the charge, in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defence and to communicate freely with counsel of the accused's choosing in confidence;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) Subject to article 63, paragraph 2, to be present at the trial, to conduct the defence in person or through legal assistance of the accused's choosing, to be informed, if the accused does not have legal assistance, of this right and to have legal assistance assigned by the Court in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment if the accused lacks sufficient means to pay for it;
(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him or her and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his or her behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him or her. The accused shall also be entitled to raise defences and to present other evidence admissible under this Statute;
(f) To have, free of any cost, the assistance of a competent interpreter and such translations as are necessary to meet the requirements of fairness, if any of the proceedings of or documents presented to the Court are not in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify or to confess guilt and to remain silent, without such silence being a consideration in the determination of guilt or innocence;
(h) To make an unsworn oral or written statement in his or her defence; and
(i) Not to have imposed on him or her any reversal of the burden of proof or any onus of rebuttal.
2. In addition to any other disclosure provided for in this Statute, the Prosecutor shall, as soon as practicable, disclose to the defence evidence in the Prosecutor's possession or control which he or she believes shows or tends to show the innocence of the accused, or to mitigate the guilt of the accused, or which may affect the credibility of prosecution evidence. In case of doubt as to the application of this paragraph, the Court shall decide.