This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.
The Parliamentary Assembly notes that access to lawyers is
crucial to utilise the rights enshrined in Article 3 and 6 of the
European Convention on Human Rights, especially the rights to defence
and fair trial. Interference with the consultation between lawyers
and detainees regularly leads to findings of violations by the European Court
of Human Rights.
Access to lawyers has to be secured in the conditions mandated
by the Convention (in terms of frequency, duration and confidentiality
of contacts) at all stages:
in
police and pre-trial detention;
during court proceedings;
while serving a prison sentence (for purposes of ongoing
judicial procedures including ongoing pending cases, appeals and
complaints about detention conditions).
The Assembly is therefore worried that some member States
display tendencies to restrict access to lawyers for detainees and
prisoners in different stages of proceedings. One example is Imrali
Island Prison in Turkey, where lawyers have been barred under various
pretexts from meeting their clients, including Abdullah Öcalan, since
27 June 2011. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture has sharply
criticised this particular situation in several reports.
The Assembly therefore calls on all competent bodies of the
Council of Europe to take steps aimed at rectifying the situation
and to ensure the protection, continuity and confidentiality of
lawyer-client consultations.
