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The Death Penalty in Japan


Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.


Te requirement that an individual deprived of his liberty be given the reasons for his arrest is common to both international human rights instruments and the Constitutions of the Commonwealth Caribbean. What is required is that the individual is told, ‘in simple, non-technical language’ that he can understand ‘the essential legal and factual grounds for his arrest’ (Fox, Campbell and Hartley v. United Kingdom)29 particularity’.


. So, for example, the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago refers to ‘reasonable


Te sufficiency of the information given to a detainee is measured by the purpose of the provision: to enable anyone deprived of his liberty to challenge the lawfulness of his arrest. And this is the essential distinction between the requirement of reasons for arrest and the additional (but later) requirement that everyone charged with a criminal offence be notified of the ‘charge’ against him, which is intended to be an important aspect of the right to prepare an effective defence. In Kelly v. Jamaica30


, the HRC


found a violation of Article 9(2) of the ICCPR where the applicant was only merely told that he had been arrested for murder and only found out the details some week later.


Te time-frame within which reasons have to be given is more complicated. Some of the international human rights bodies have been a little more relaxed – so, for example, the ECtHR in Fox, Campbell and Hartley31


found no breach of the European Convention where the reasons for the applicants’ arrest


was bought to their attention several hours after their detention – and some of the Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutions are (on paper at least) more relaxed still, mentioning periods such as 24 or 48 hours, for example.


Access to a lawyer


Early access to a lawyer and, in particular, access before questioning, is an aspect of international human rights law where standards are tightening. Principle 1 of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers32


; affirmed in Condron v. UK34 ).


establishes the right to assistance at all stages of criminal proceedings, including interrogation.


And, in the context of the right to silence (or, more accurately, drawing adverse inferences from silence during questioning), the ECtHR has effectively ruled out questioning suspects in the absence of their lawyers (see Murray v. UK33


In a similar vein, the HRC has emphasised that ‘all persons arrested must have immediate access to counsel’ (Concluding Observations on the UN HRC: Georgia)35


on Human Rights has stated that the right to defend oneself requires that an accused person be permitted to obtain legal assistance when first detained. It concluded that a law which prohibited a detainee from access to a lawyer during detention and investigation would seriously impinge upon defence rights.36


29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36


European Court of Human Rights, [1991] 14 EHRR 108 at paragraph 40 CCPR/C/4/D/253/1987, 10 April 1991 Note 30 above


Adopted by 8th UN Congress on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, 7th September 1990 [1996] 22 EHRR 29


European Court of Human Rights, No. 35718/97 UN Doc. CCPR/C/79/Add.74, 9 April 1997 Annual Report of the IACmHR, 1985-86


14 . Te Inter-American Commission


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