The exclusion of improperly obtained evidence in Greece: Putting constitutional rights first

Copyright @ 2007 Vathek PublishingIn contrast with England and Wales, where there is a discretion to exclude improperly obtained evidence, exclusion in Greece is automatic. Article 177 para. 2 of the Code of Penal Procedure mandates that evidence obtained by the commission of criminal offences is not taken into consideration. In addition, article 19 para. 3 of the Constitution prohibits the use of evidence obtained in violation of the right to privacy. Inspired by the rigidity of these exclusionary rules, the rights-centred approach that they reflect and the context of a constitutional criminal procedure within which they apply, this article sheds light on the protection of constitutional rights as a rationale for the exclusion of improperly obtained evidence. It does so against the background of the reliability-centred exclusionary doctrine in England

Criminal justice in France after September 11: Has the balance between liberty and security been disturbed?

This is the abstract of the conference paper delivered at the Ninth Biennial International Conference - Societies in Transition: Balancing Security, Social Justice and Tradition in 2010

A Review of Renaud Colson’s and Stewart Field’s ‘The Transformation of Criminal Justice: Comparing France with England and Wales’

This material was first published by Sweet and Maxwell Limited in Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos 'A Review of Renaud Colson’s and Stewart Field’s ‘The Transformation of Criminal Justice: Comparing France with England and Wales', Criminal Law Review, 10, pp. 863-867 and is reproduced by agreement with the publishers.This book opens with forewords by two of the most exceptional contemporary legal minds in the English and French legal systems: Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the first president of the UK Supreme Court, and Robert Badinter, former president of the Conseil constitutionnel, eminent scholar and politician known for his tireless contributions on criminal justice and human rights issues. Lord Phillips finds that “this is an erudite comparative study of recent reforms to the English and French criminal justice systems”, which shows how “reforms have brought the two systems closer together”, thus being “of interest to those who have been brought up to consider the two systems as dissimilar as chalk and cheese” (p.7)

The new landscape of suspects’ rights in Europe: Moving backwards in England and Wales?

This is the abstract of the conference paper.The decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Salduz v Turkey led to considerable reforms of custodial interrogation regimes in European countries that had long resisted recognition of suspects’ rights such as the right to legal assistance and notification of the right to silence. Salduz unsettled custodial interrogation practice in France, Belgium, Scotland and the Netherlands, while it also accelerated efforts to create common minimum standards on the rights of suspects across the EU, most notably through a Directive on the right to access to a lawyer. At the same time, the British government has so far refrained from opting in the proposed Directive, while developments within the law of England and Wales demonstrate a move away from a rights-centred approach towards custodial interrogation. A gradually increasing reliance on assigning custodial legal assistance to non-solicitor staff and restricting opportunities for face-to-face consultation with legal counsel, coupled with an ever-shrinking legal aid budget and the use of a full-blown system of adverse inferences impacting upon lawyers’ ability to adopt an adversarial approach to police interrogation, offer an illustration of such developments. Taking this observation as its starting point, this paper will offer an analysis of why the UK might be moving backwards and away from the due process-centred model of custodial interrogation that it was one of the first countries to adopt in Europe (with PACE 1984 and the relevant Codes of Practice), paradoxically at a time when Europe is finally waking up to the need to adopt such a model

Suspects’ rights in custodial interrogation in Greece and France: Isolationism, legal cosmopolitanism and local resistance

This is the abstract of a conference paper delivered at the Globalisation, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice conference in 2012.This paper discusses isolationism, cosmopolitanism and local resistance as conflicting powers shaping law reform. It concentrates on legislation recently introduced in France giving suspects the right to be assisted by a lawyer when questioned by the police. France has for a very long time maintained an idiosyncratic position on this issue, effectively barring lawyers’ presence in police interrogations, thus diverging from the solutions adopted by most legal systems in Europe and the Western world. Under pressure from the ECtHR (post Salduz v Turkey jurisprudence and, notably, Brusco v France), France has finally abandoned this position. The focus then moves on to Greece, where isolationism similar to that exhibited in France can be demonstrated with respect to notification of the right to silence and suspects’ rights during custodial interrogation more generally. The two countries are compared and contrasted in relation to their ‘spontaneous’ cosmopolitan attitudes and reactions to external cosmopolitan pressures for reform. The conclusions allow for reflection on legal cosmopolitanism’s assumed ubiquity

“North of the border and across the channel”: Custodial legal assistance reforms in Scotland and France

Copyright @ 2013 Sweet & MaxwellThis article contrasts the Scottish reform of custodial legal assistance introduced subsequent to the Supreme Court’s decision in Cadder with similar developments in France. It offers a comparative viewpoint for the analysis of criticism directed at Cadder and opens up vistas of possibility for the consideration of further reform. The article also invites reflection on the significance of the developments in Scotland and France for custodial legal assistance in England and Wale

Suspects' rights in custodial interrogation in France: Lessons for Greece

Copyright @ 2013 Nomiki Bibliothiki. This Article is in Greek.The comparative study of the provisions of the French Code of Penal Procedure that concern custodial interrogation rights brings to light important gaps in the corresponding framework of the Code of Penal Procedure in Greece, and this despite the fact that the French legislator continues at this time to have important reservations – compared to the Greek legislator – vis-à-vis recognising a more active role for defence lawyers at this stage of the pre-trial process. More precisely, the French Code of Penal Procedure contains defence rights and safeguards for their practical implementation that one does not come across in Greek law; their transplantation into the Code of Penal Procedure in Greece could positively impact upon the treatment of suspects by the police and the effective exercise of the right to legal assistance during custodial interrogation.Η συγκριτική εξέταση των διατάξεων του γαλλικού ΚΠΔ (γαλλ. ΚΠΔ) που αφορούν τα δικαιώματα του κατηγορουμένου κατά την αστυνομική προανάκριση φανερώνει την ύπαρξη σημαντικών κενών στο αντίστοιχο πλέγμα διατάξεων του ελληνικού ΚΠΔ, και αυτό παρά το γεγονός ότι ο γάλλος νομοθέτης παραμένει ακόμη και σήμερα ιδιαίτερα διστακτικός –σε σχέση με τον έλληνα νομοθέτη– στο να αναγνωρίσει έναν πιο ενεργό ρόλο στο συνήγορο υπεράσπισης στη φάση αυτή της προδικασίας. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, ο γαλλ. ΚΠΔ εμπεριέχει σειρά δικαιωμάτων του κατηγορουμένου και πρακτικών εγγυήσεων προστασίας τους που δε συναντούμε στο ελληνικό δίκαιο και των οποίων πιθανή μεταφύτευση στον ελληνικό ΚΠΔ θα μπορούσε να έχει θετικό αντίκτυπο στη μεταχείριση του κατηγορουμένου από την αστυνομία και την αποτελεσματική άσκηση των δικαιωμάτων της υπεράσπισης κατά την αστυνομική προανάκριση

The theory and practice of custodial interrogation in Greece (and their significance for French law on custodial interrogation)

This Article is published in French - Copyright @ 2012 Pédon

La vidéosurveillance au Royaume-Uni: la caméra omniprésente, signe d’une évolution vers une « société de surveillance » ? (CCTV in Great Britain: the omnipresent CCTV camera, sign of an evolution towards a “surveillance society” ?)

This Article is published in French - Copyright @ 2010 A PedoneM. John Smith regarde sa montre. Il est lundi, 8 heures de matin, et il faut qu’il se dépêche, sinon il arrivera en retard au travail. Il attache son petit garçon à l’arrière de sa voiture et part précipitamment. Il dépasse en roulant la limite des 40 km/h, quand une caméra de surveillance routière capte l’image de sa voiture sans qu’il s’en aperçoive. Il passe encore devant deux caméras avant d’arriver à la crèche, où il dit au-revoir à son petit garçon et l’embrasse sous l’œil d’une caméra. Quinze minutes plus tard, il arrive au travail et gare sa voiture au parking, un espace ouvert, constamment surveillé par deux caméras. Deux autres caméras observent les abords du bâtiment où se trouve son bureau. Le soir du même jour M. Smith va au centre sportif pour jouer au badminton. L’écran au-dessus de la réception montre ses copains qui l’attendent déjà sur le terrain. Mardi : Après le travail, M. Smith décide d’aller au centre commercial afin d’acheter un cadeau pour sa femme dont c’est bientôt l’anniversaire. Plusieurs caméras surveillent ses mouvements : dans les divers magasins, dans les espaces communs du centre commercial, dans le parking ainsi que dans la rue principale de cette banlieue. Mercredi : M. Smith se rend à la station-service locale, où un panneau signale la présence de caméras. Il est en train de payer à la caisse, quand sa voiture et sa plaque d’immatriculation apparaissent sur un écran. Jeudi : M. Smith prend le métro pour aller au centre de Londres où il a un rendez-vous professionnel. Le quai de la station locale est sous surveillance électronique. La station d’Oxford Circus où il arrive est également surveillée par plusieurs caméras. M. Smith traverse l’Oxford street, passant devant des dizaines de caméras de surveillance qui sont installées sur les colonnes hautes et imposantes qu’on trouve tous les deux cents mètres. Vendredi : Il a fait beau pendant toute la semaine. Comme ce n’est pas très souvent le cas à Londres, M. Smith et sa famille décident d’en profiter et visitent la pépinière locale. Là encore, il y a des caméras. Samedi : Mme Smith se rend à l’agence locale de la banque pour effectuer un paiement, avant d’aller au supermarché. L’un et l’autre sont sous surveillance électronique. Dimanche : M. et Mme Smith vont voir le nouveau film de Roman Polanski au cinéma local. Juste à côté de la caisse, un écran montre des images du public, transmises directement par des caméras situées dans les salles

The notification of the right to silence to police suspects in Greece and the need to harmonise Greek legislation with international and comparative law

This Article is published in Greek - Copyright @ 2012 Nomiki Bibliothiki.Non recognition by the Greek Code of Criminal Procedure of a duty to notify suspects of their right to silence, with the exception of the ‘preliminary inquiry’ stage, not only is in opposition to Greek scholars’ continuous calls to Parliament to move away from this position, it also reflects a discrepancy with developments at the international level, as these crystallise around ECHR jurisprudence and the legislative reforms that have been inspired by the latter in European countries where, until recently, such duty was not recognised. These developments dictate that the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure be immediately harmonised with international and comparative law. Η μη αναγνώριση από τον ΚΠΔ υποχρέωσης γνωστοποίησης του δικαιώματος σιωπής στον κατηγορούμενο, με εξαίρεση το στάδιο της προκαταρκτικής εξέτασης, όχι μόνο είναι αντίθετη στα χρόνια κελεύσματα της ελληνικής θεωρίας ως προς την ανάγκη εγκατάλειψης της θέσης αυτής, πλέον βρίσκεται και σε αναντιστοιχία με εξελίξεις σε διεθνές επίπεδο, όπως αυτές αποκρυσταλλώνονται από τη νομολογία του ΕυρΔΔΑ και τις νομοθετικές αλλαγές στις οποίες έχει ήδη οδηγήσει αυτή σε ευρωπαϊκά κράτη τα οποία έως πρόσφατα δεν αναγνώριζαν τέτοια υποχρέωση. Οι εξελίξεις αυτές καθιστούν αναγκαία την άμεση εναρμόνιση των σχετικών διατάξεων του ΚΠΔ με το διεθνές και συγκριτικό δίκαιο