Right to fair trial, etc.

12. Right to fair trial, etc. (1) if any person is charged with a criminal offence, then, unless the charge is withdrawn, the case shall be afforded a fair hearing within reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law. Page 12 (2) Every person who is charged with a criminal offence - (a) shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty; (b) shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable, in language that he understands and in adequate detail, of the nature of the offence charged; (c) shall be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence; (d) shall be permitted to defend himself before the court in person or by a legal representative of his own choice; (e) shall be afforded facilities to examine in person or by his legal representative the witnesses called by the prosecution before the court and to obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on his behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to witnesses called by the prosecution; and (f) shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at the trial of the charge, and except with his own consent the trial shall not take place in his absence unless he so conducts himself as to render the continuance of the proceedings in his presence impracticable and the court has ordered him to be removed and the trial to proceed in his absence. (3) When a person is tried for any criminal offence, the accused person or any person authorised by him in that behalf shall, if he so requires of such reasonable fee as may be prescribed by law, and subject to payment judgement a copy for the use of the be given within a reasonable time after by or on behalf of the accused person of any record of the proceedings made court. (4) No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for a criminal offence that is severer in degree or description than the maximum penalty that might have been imposed for that offence at the time when it was committed. (5) No person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted shall be tried again for that offence or for any other criminal offence of which he could have a been convicted at the trial for that offence, save upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal. (6) No person shall be tried for a criminal offence if he shows that he has been pardoned for that offence. (7) No person who is tried for a criminal offence shall be compelled to give evidence at the trial. (8) Any court or other adjudicating authority prescribed by law for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation shall be established by law and shall be independent and impartial; and where proceedings for such a determination are instituted by any person before such a court or other adjudicating authority the case shall be given Page 13 by any person before such a court or other adjudicating authority, the case shall be given a fair hearing within reasonable time. (9) Except with the agreement of all parties thereto, all proceedings of every court and proceedings for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation before any other adjudicating authority, including the announcement of the decision of the court or other authority, shall be held in public. (10) Nothing in subsection (9) shall prevent the court or other adjudicating authority from excluding from the proceedings persons other than the parties thereto and their legal representatives to such extent as the court or other authority - (a) may by law be empowered to do and may consider necessary or expedient in circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice or in interlocutory proceedings or in the interests of public morality, the welfare of persons under the age of eighteen years or the protection of the private lives of persons concerned in the proceedings; or (b) may by law be empowered or required to do in the interests of defence, public safety or public order. (11) Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of - (a) subsection (2)(a) to the extent that the law in question imposes upon any person charged with a criminal offence the burden of proving particular facts; (b) subsection (2)(e) to the extent that the law in question imposes conditions that must be satisfied if witnesses called to testify on behalf of accused persons are to be paid their expenses out of public funds; or (c) subsection (5) to the extent that the law in question authorises a court to try a member of a disciplined force for a criminal offence notwithstanding any trial and conviction or acquittal of that member under the disciplinary law of that force, so, however, that any court so trying such a member and convicting him shall in sentencing him to any punishment take into account any punishment awarded him under that disciplinary law. (12) In the case of any person who is held in lawful detention the provisions of subsection (1), subsections (2)(d) and (e) and subsection (3) shall not apply in relation to his trial for a criminal offence under the law regulating the discipline of persons held in such detention. (13) Nothing contained in subsection (2)(d) shall be construed as entitling a person to legal representation at public expense. (14) In this section "criminal offence" means a criminal offence under the law of Lesotho.