About Fair Trials
Fair Trials Europe (“Fair Trials”) is a non-governmental organisation that works for fair trials
according to internationally recognised standards of justice. Our vision is a world where every
person's right to a fair trial is respected, whatever their nationality, wherever they are accused.
Fair Trials helps people to understand and defend their fair trial rights; addresses the root causes of
injustice through its law reform work; and undertakes targeted training and networking activities to
support lawyers and other human rights defenders in their work to protect fair trial rights.
Working with the Legal Experts Advisory Panel (‘LEAP’) – a network of over 140 criminal justice and
human rights experts including defence practitioners, NGOs and academics from 28 EU Member
States – Fair Trials has contributed to the negotiations surrounding the adoption of the first three
directives under the Roadmap for strengthening procedural rights.
LEAP, supported by Fair Trials, is now working to ensure effective implementation of the Directives,
further to its February 2015 strategy Towards an EU Defence Rights Movement, including through
practitioner training and litigation before the national courts and Court of Justice of the EU.
Contact
Libby McVeigh
Legal & Policy Director
Fair Trials International
+44 (0)20 7822 2370
libby.mcveigh@fairtrials.net
Alex Tinsley
Legal & Policy Officer
Fair Trials Europe
+32 (0)2 743 85 93
alex.tinsley@fairtrials.net
Acknowledgments
Fair Trials wishes to thank the LEAP members for providing the information on which this Toolkit is
based. We would also like to thank James Brannan (translator, LEAP member) and Cyril Joyce
(interpreter) for their input, and LEAP members Ellen Moerman and Liese Katschinka, president of
the European Legal Interpreters and Translators Association (EULITA) for their continuing input to
LEAP on language assistance questions. The views expressed in this report are our own.
With financial support from:
Co-funded by the Criminal Justice
Programme of the European Commission
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