The Rights of Suspects/Accused and their Defense in Criminal Proceedings in South East Europe

On June 30th 2007, the German chairmanship of the European Council ended. One result of the chairmanship in the justice sector is the strengthening of civil rights through a principal discussion on pan-European consistent minimum standards for criminal proceedings. The RLP SEE of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung contributed to this result with a large-scale regional project comprising a comparative law study, a regional experts' conference in Bucharest (Romania), and a round table discussion in Sofia (Bulgaria). Apart from supporting the German chairmanship, the project aimed at establishing a better understanding for the importance of criminal procedural law as a „seismograph of constitution“, in particular for the rights of the suspects, the accused and their defense, and at legally identifying the present situation de iure and de facto of the countries of the region. For this purpose, the RLP SEE assigned renowned criminal procedural law experts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia with analyzing the respective national criminal procedural law. The final outcome is a publication which comprises country studies on the rights of the suspects/accused and their defense in criminal procedures. This publication was initially released in 2007 in the languages of origin. Now it has also been translated into English.