Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section I General principles

Article 16 Scope and interpretation of fundamental rights

1. The fundamental rights enshrined in this Constitution shall not exclude such other rights as may be laid down by law and in the applicable rules of international law.

2. The provisions of this Constitution and of laws concerning fundamental rights shall be interpreted and construed in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section I General principles

Article 19 Suspension of the Exercise of Rights

1. Bodies that exercise sovereign power shall not jointly or separately suspend the exercise of rights, freedoms and guarantees, save in the case of a state of siege or a state of emergency declared in the form provided for in this Constitution .

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section I General principles

Article 20 Access to Law and the Courts

(2) Subject to the terms of the law, everyone shall possess the right to legal information and advice, to legal counsel and to be accompanied by a lawyer before any authority.

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section II Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards
Chapter I Personal Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards

Article 29 Application of Criminal Law

1. No one shall be sentenced under the criminal law unless the action or omission in question is punishable under the terms of a pre-existing law, nor shall any person be the object of a security measure unless the prerequisites therefore are laid down by a pre-existing law.

2. The provisions of the previous paragraph shall not preclude the punishment up to the limits laid down by internal Portuguese law of an action or omission which was deemed criminal under the general principles of commonly recognised international law at the moment of its commission .

3. No sentence or security measure shall be applied unless it is expressly sanctioned in a pre-existing law.

4. No one shall be the object of a sentence or security measure that is more severe than those provided for at the moment of the conduct in question, or at that at which the prerequisites for the application of such a measure were fulfilled. However, criminal laws the content of which is more favourable to the defendant shall be applied retroactively .

5. No one shall be tried more than once for the same crime.

6. Citizens who are unjustly convicted shall possess the right to the review of their sentences and to compensation for such damages as they have suffered, as laid down by law .

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section II Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards
Chapter I Personal Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards

Article 32 Safeguards in Criminal Proceedings

1. Criminal proceedings shall ensure all necessary safeguards for the defence, including the right to appeal.

2. Every defendant shall be presumed innocent until his sentence has transited in rem judicatam, and shall be brought to trial as quickly as is compatible with the safeguards of the defence.

3. Defendants shall possess the right to choose counsel and to be assisted by him in relation to every procedural act. The law shall specify those cases and phases of proceedings in which the assistance of a lawyer shall be mandatory.

4. Preliminary investigations shall be conducted entirely under the responsibility of a judge, who may, subject to the terms of the law, delegate the practise of such investigative acts as do not directly concern fundamental rights to other persons or bodies.

5. Criminal proceedings shall posses an accusatorial structure, and trial hearings and such preliminary investigative acts as the law may require shall be subject to the principle of pleading and counter-pleading .

6. The law shall define the cases in which, subject to the safeguarding of the rights of the defence, the presence of the defendant or the accused at procedural acts, including trial hearings, may be dispensed with.

7. Victims shall possess the right to take part in proceedings, as laid down by law.

8. All evidence obtained by torture, coercion, infringement of personal physical or moral integrity, improper intromission into personal life, the home, correspondence or telecommunications shall be deemed null and void.

9. No case shall be withdrawn from a court that already had jurisdiction under an earlier law.

10. Defendants in proceedings concerning administrative offences or in any proceedings in which penalties may be imposed shall possess the right to be heard and to a defence.

Part I
General

CHAPTER I
Subject-matter, scope and general principles of international judicial co-operation in criminal matters


Article 6
Mandatory grounds for refusal

1. Requests for co-operation shall be refused:

a) where the proceedings do not comply with the requirements laid down in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950, or other relevant international instruments ratified by Portugal;
b) where there are well-founded reasons for believing that co-operation is sought for the purpose of persecuting or punishing a person on account of that person's race, religion, sex, nationality, language, political or ideological beliefs, or his belonging to a given social group;
c) where the risk exists that the procedural situation of the person might be impaired on account of any of the factors indicated in the preceding sub-paragraph;
d) where the co-operation sought might lead to a trial by a court of exceptional jurisdiction or where it concerns the enforcement of a sentence passed by such a court;
e) where any of the facts in question is punishable with the death sentence or with a sentence resulting in any irreversible injury of the person's integrity;
f) where any of the offences in question carries a life-long or indefinite sentence or measure.

2. The provisions in sub-paragraphs e) and f) of the preceding paragraph shall not preclude co-operation:

should the requesting State, by way of an irreversible decision that binds its courts or any other authority with powers to execute the sentence, have either commuted the death sentence or the sentence resulting in any irreversible injury of the person's integrity, or withdrawn the life-long nature of the sentence or measure;

where the co-operation sought is in the form of extradition for offences that, under the law of the requesting State, carry a life-long or indefinite sentence or measure involving deprivation of or restrictions to liberty, should the requesting State offer assurances that such a sentence or measure shall not be imposed or shall not be executed;

should the requesting State accept the conversion of the sentence or the detention order, by a Portuguese court and under the Portuguese law applicable to the offence or offences for which the person was sentenced; or

where co-operation is sought on the basis of the provisions of Article 1.1.f), on grounds that it will presumably be relevant for the purpose of preventing such sentences or orders to be rendered.

3. In assessing the sufficiency of the assurances mentioned in sub-paragraph b) of paragraph 2 above, account shall be taken, in the light of the law and practice of the requesting State, inter alia, of the possibility that the sentence is not executed, of a reconsideration of the situation of the person sought and his conditional release, as well as of the possibilities that pardon, amnesty, commutation of the sentence or similar measure be granted, as provided in the law of the requesting State.

4. A request for co-operation shall also be refused where reciprocity is not ensured, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 4. 3.

5. Where co-operation is refused on the grounds offered by the provisions of sub-paragraphs d), e) or f) of paragraph 1 above, the method of co-operation provided for in Article 32.5 shall apply.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure


Article 53
Appearance of the person claimed

1. The authority that proceeds to the arrest of the person claimed shall, through the most expedite means that afford evidence in writing, immediately inform the public prosecutor attached to the ""Tribunal da Relação" that has jurisdiction over the request.

2. Within 48 hours of his arrest, the person claimed must appear before the public prosecutor for the purpose of being heard; any property seized shall accompany the person.

3. The judge rapporteur shall hear the person after having appointed a legal counsel for that person if the
latter has not done it himself.

4. The person shall be personally summoned to the hearing and informed of his right to be assisted by both a legal counsel and an interpreter.

5. Where for one reason or another the arrest cannot be examined by the "Tribunal da Relação", the person must appear before public prosecutor attached to the court of first instance that has jurisdiction over the area of the seat of the "Tribunal da Relação" that has jurisdiction over the request.

6. In the case mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the hearing shall have as its sole purpose for the judge of the court of first instance to examine whether the arrest was legal and whether it may continue; the public prosecutor shall take whatever measures are necessary in order to ensure that the person appears in the first working day that follows.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure


Article 53
Appearance of the person claimed

2. Within 48 hours of his arrest, the person claimed must appear before the public prosecutor for the purpose of being heard; any property seized shall accompany the person.

3. The judge rapporteur shall hear the person after having appointed a legal counsel for that person if the
latter has not done it himself.

4. The person shall be personally summoned to the hearing and informed of his right to be assisted by both a legal counsel and an interpreter.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure


Article 54
Hearing of the person claimed

1. In the presence of the public prosecutor and the legal counsel of the person claimed, and if necessary with the assistance of an interpreter, the judge rapporteur shall proceed to the identification of the person and shall inform him of his right to object to his extradition, of his right to consent to his extradition, of the possibility opened to him to relinquish the benefits of the rule of speciality in accordance with the applicable treaty law.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure


Article 56
Producing of evidence

1. Any steps requested or taken at the initiative of the judge, in particular steps taken in order to decide on the property seized, must be done within 15 days, in the presence of the person concerned, his counsel, an interpreter if necessary and the public prosecutor.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure


Article 61
Time-limit for the surrender

1. The person concerned shall be removed from the Portuguese territory at the date that is fixed in accordance with the provisions of Article 60.

2. Should no-one show up to receive the person at that date, he shall be set free 20 days after that date.

3. That time-limit may be extended for another 20 days, inasmuch as the particular circumstances of the case so require, if reasons of force majeur, notably illness as described in paragraph 3 of Article 35 prevent surrender within that time-limit.

Part I
General

CHAPTER I
Subject-matter, scope and general principles of international judicial co-operation in criminal matters

Article 6
Mandatory grounds for refusal

1. Requests for co-operation shall be refused :

a) where the proceedings do not comply with the requirements laid down in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950, or other relevant international instruments ratified by Portugal ;
b) where there are well-founded reasons for believing that co-operation is sought for the purpose of persecuting or punishing a person on account of that person's race, religion, sex, nationality, language, political or ideological beliefs, or his belonging to a given social group ;
c) where the risk exists that the procedural situation of the person might be impaired on account of any of the factors indicated in the preceding sub-paragraph ;
d) where the co-operation sought might lead to a trial by a court of exceptional jurisdiction or where it concerns the enforcement of a sentence passed by such a court ;
e) where any of the facts in question is punishable with the death sentence or with a sentence resulting in any irreversible injury of the person's integrity ;
f) where any of the offences in question carries a life-long or indefinite sentence or measure.

2. The provisions in sub-paragraphs e) and f) of the preceding paragraph shall not preclude co-operation :

should the requesting State, by way of an irreversible decision that binds its courts or any other authority with powers to execute the sentence, have either commuted the death sentence or the sentence resulting in any irreversible injury of the person's integrity, or withdrawn the life-long nature of the sentence or measure;
where the co-operation sought is in the form of extradition for offences that, under the law of the requesting State, carry a life-long or indefinite sentence or measure involving deprivation of or restrictions to liberty, should the requesting State offer assurances that such a sentence or measure shall not be imposed or shall not be executed ;
should the requesting State accept the conversion of the sentence or the detention order, by a Portuguese court and under the Portuguese law applicable to the offence or offences for which the person was sentenced ; or
where co-operation is sought on the basis of the provisions of Article 1.1.f), on grounds that it will presumably be relevant for the purpose of preventing such sentences or orders to be rendered.

3. In assessing the sufficiency of the assurances mentioned in sub-paragraph b) of paragraph 2 above, account shall be taken, in the light of the law and practice of the requesting State, inter alia, of the possibility that the sentence is not executed, of a reconsideration of the situation of the person sought and his conditional release, as well as of the possibilities that pardon, amnesty, commutation of the sentence or similar measure be granted, as provided in the law of the requesting State.

4. A request for co-operation shall also be refused where reciprocity is not ensured, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 4. 3.

5. Where co-operation is refused on the grounds offered by the provisions of sub-paragraphs d), e) or f) of paragraph 1 above, the method of co-operation provided for in Article 32.5 shall apply.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure

Article 53
Appearance of the person claimed

1. The authority that proceeds to the arrest of the person claimed shall, through the most expedite means that afford evidence in writing, immediately inform the public prosecutor attached to the ""Tribunal da Relação"l" that has jurisdiction over the request.

2. Within 48 hours of his arrest, the person claimed must appear before the public prosecutor for the purpose of being heard; any property seized shall accompany the person.

3. The judge rapporteur shall hear the person after having appointed a legal counsel for that person if the latter has not done it himself.

4. The person shall be personally summoned to the hearing and informed of his right to be assisted by both a legal counsel and an interpreter.

5. Where for one reason or another the arrest cannot be examined by the ""Tribunal da Relação"l", the person must appear before public prosecutor attached to the court of first instance that has jurisdiction over the area of the seat of the ""Tribunal da Relação"l" that has jurisdiction over the request.

6. In the case mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the hearing shall have as its sole purpose for the judge of the court of first instance to examine whether the arrest was legal and whether it may continue ; the public prosecutor shall take whatever measures are necessary in order to ensure that the person appears in the first working day that follows.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure

Article 53
Appearance of the person claimed

2. Within 48 hours of his arrest, the person claimed must appear before the public prosecutor for the purpose of being heard; any property seized shall accompany the person.

3. The judge rapporteur shall hear the person after having appointed a legal counsel for that person if the latter has not done it himself.

4. The person shall be personally summoned to the hearing and informed of his right to be assisted by both a legal counsel and an interpreter.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure

Article 54
Hearing of the person claimed

1. In the presence of the public prosecutor and the legal counsel of the person claimed, and if necessary with the assistance of an interpreter, the judge rapporteur shall proceed to the identification of the person and shall inform him of his right to object to his extradition, of his right to consent to his extradition, of the possibility opened to him to relinquish the benefits of the rule of speciality in accordance with the applicable treaty law.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure

Article 56
Producing of evidence

1. Any steps requested or taken at the initiative of the judge, in particular steps taken in order to decide on the property seized, must be done within 15 days, in the presence of the person concerned, his counsel, an interpreter if necessary and the public prosecutor.

Part II
Extradition

CHAPTER I
Extradition from Portugal

Section II
Extradition procedure

Article 61
Time-limit for the surrender

1. The person concerned shall be removed from the Portuguese territory at the date that is fixed in accordance with the provisions of Article 60.

2. Should no-one show up to receive the person at that date, he shall be set free 20 days after that date .

3. That time-limit may be extended for another 20 days, inasmuch as the particular circumstances of the case so require, if reasons of force majeur, notably illness as described in paragraph 3 of Article 35 prevent surrender within that time-limit.

Part III
Transfer of criminal proceedings

CHAPTER I
Delegation of competence in criminal proceedings in favour of the Portuguese judicial authorities

Article 83
Procedure

3. If the person does not appear in court, the court shall make sure that the summons were legally carried out and, if the person is not represented by a counsel or, if represented, the counsel did not appear either, shall appoint a counsel; every such step shall be recorded in writing.

Part IV
Enforcement of criminal judgements

CHAPTER I
Enforcement of foreign criminal judgements

Article 96
Specific requirements

1. Any request for the enforcement in Portugal of a foreign criminal judgement shall be admissible only subject to the general requirements provided for in this law, as well as the following requirements :

b) if the sentence was pronounced during a trial in the absence of the sentenced person, the later must have been given the legal possibility of requesting a new trial or introducing an appeal ;

Part V
Supervision of conditionally sentenced or conditionally released offenders

CHAPTER I
General

Article 130
Optional refusal

Notwithstanding the general requirements provided for in this law, co-operation requested to Portugal may be refused if :

a) the decision with respect to which the request is made was taken in absentia and there was no legal possibility to have a new trial or for an appeal ;