Open lecture on Judicial Guarantees and International Standards

The State, as the guardian of public order, may infringe on individual freedoms in the exercise of its coercive power, for example by detaining people and restricting their movements. The State therefore puts in place safeguards to prevent or control such infringements through its criminal procedure. In order to safeguard individual freedoms, a State’s criminal procedure incorporates the principles of fundamental rights.
In this respect, individuals accused or brought to trial benefit from procedural guarantees and fundamental safeguards to ensure a fair trial and protection against unlawful deprivation of liberty. These guarantees include the right to independent and impartial courts, the presumption of innocence, the right to know the charges against them, the right to appeal, as well as protection against torture and arbitrary arrest and detention.
Neila Mebtoul held an open lecture on judicial guarantees and international standards. During the lecture, the presenter discussed with the students the objective of protecting fundamental rights in criminal proceedings and presented the relevant international standards and their transposition into the Lao legal framework. Finally, she presented in more detail the right to presumption of innocence, the prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention and the prohibition of torture, giving concrete examples of behaviour constituting violations of these fundamental rights.