19

Article 19 1. Every person charged with an offence has the right, unless the charge is withdrawn, to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law. 2. Every person who is charged with an offence - a. is innocent until the person is proved or has pleaded guilty; b. shall be informed at the time the person is charged or as soon as is reasonably practicable, in, as far as is practicable, a language that the person understands and in detail, of the nature of the offence; c. shall be given adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence to the charge; d. has a right to be defended before the court in person, or, at the person's own expense by a legal practitioner of the person's own choice, or, where a law so provides, by a legal practitioner provided At public expense; e. has a right to examine, in person or by a legal practitioner, the witnesses called by the prosecution before any court, and to obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on the person's behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to witnesses called by the prosecution; f. shall, as far as is practicable, have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if the person cannot understand the language used at the trial of the charge; g. shall not be compelled to testify at the trial or confess guilt; h. shall not have any adverse inference drawn from the exercise of the right to silence either during the course of the investigation or at the trial; and i. shall, except with the person's own consent, not be tried in the person's absence unless the person's conduct renders the continuance of the proceedings in the person's presence impracticable and the court has ordered the person to be removed and the trial to proceed in the person's absence. 3. When a person is tried for any offence that person or any other person authorised by that person, in that behalf shall, if either of them so requires and subject to payment of such reasonable fee as may be specified by or under any law, be given as soon as is practicable after judgment a copy for the use of that person of any record of the proceedings made by or on behalf of the court. 4. Except for the offence of genocide or an offence against humanity, a person shall not be held to be guilty of an offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute an offence, and a penalty shall not be imposed for any offence that is more severe in degree or description than the maximum penalty that might have been imposed for the offence at the time when it was committed. 5. A person who shows that the person has been tried by a competent court for an offence and either convicted or acquitted shall not be tried again for that offence or for any other offence of which the person could have 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. A person shall not be tried for an offence if the person shows that the person has been pardoned for that offence in accordance with an Act made pursuant to Article 60(2). 7. Any court or other authority required or empowered by law to determine 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 authority the case shall be given a fair hearing within a reasonable time. 8. Subject to clause (9), all proceedings of every court and proceedings for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation before any court or other authority, including the announcement of the decision of the court or other authority, shall be held in public. 9. Anything in clause (8) shall not prevent the court or other authority from excluding from the proceedings, except for the announcement of the decision of the court or other authority, persons other than the parties thereto, their legal representatives and legal practitioners to such extent as the court or other authority - a. may by law be empowered so to do and may consider necessary in the 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 privacy of persons concerned in the proceedings; or b. may by law be empowered or required to do so in the interests of defence, public safety or public order. 10. Anything contained in or done under the authority of any law necessary in a democratic society shall not be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of - a. clause (1), (2)(e) or (8), to the extent that the law in question makes necessary provision relating to the grounds of privilege or public policy on which evidence shall not be disclosed or witnesses are not competent or cannot be compelled to give evidence in any proceedings; b. clause (2)(a), to the extent that the law in question imposes upon any person charged with an offence the burden of proving particular facts or declares that the proof of certain facts shall be prima facie proof of the offence or of any element thereof; c. clause (2)(e), to the extent that the law in question imposes conditions that must be satisfied if witnesses called to testify on behalf of an accused person are to be paid their expenses out of public funds; d. clause (5), to the extent that the law in question authorises a court to try a member of a disciplinary force for an 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 the member shall in sentencing the person to any punishment take into account any punishment awarded the member under that disciplinary law. 11. Every person convicted of an offence shall be entitled to appeal in accordance with law against the conviction, sentence and any order made on the conviction. 12. For the purposes of clause 2(i), a person who has, in accordance with law, been served with a summons or other process requiring the person to appear at the time and place appointed for the trial and who does not so appear shall be deemed to have consented to the trial taking place in the person's absence. 13. Every person convicted of an offence and who has suffered punishment as a result of the conviction shall, if it is subsequently shown that there has been a serious miscarriage of justice, be entitled to be compensated by the State according to law.