Inside Police Custody- suspects’ rights at the investigative stage of the criminal process (2016-2018)

The primary objective of the project, carried out in nine countries of the European Union was to measure the practical operation of suspects’ rights at the investigative stage – the right to interpretation and translation, the right to information and the right of access to a lawyer. Furthermore, to use this evidence to conduct national advocacy directed at improving respect for those rights in practice. The project was co-ordinated by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, primarily funded by the European Commission (Action Grant, JUST/2015/Action Grants / 4000008627).  In addition to establishing and describing the legal norms in the nine countries, the research sought to explore how they operate in practice.

In Hungary, within the framework of an empirical research, we carried out interviews with criminal defense attorneys, interpreters, and staff members of the representatives of the Independent Police Complaints Board and the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights. The national outcome of the project is a country report, which analyses the legal framework (with regards to the new Code of Criminal Procedure (Act XC of 2017), and procedural practices, and makes recommendations for the improvement of procedural rights at the investigative stage of the criminal procedure on a national level. We published our results in a country report, available in Hungarian and English. A further outcome of the project is an international comparative report, which gives a comparative perspective regarding legal frameworks and practices among the nine countries, where the research project was conducted, and makes recommendations both on national and EU levels.

This project is funded by the European Union