02/10/2008 Session
Strasbourg, 02.10.2008 - The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today expressed concern about elements of draft counter-terrorism legislation in the United Kingdom that would enable the detention of a terrorist suspect for up to 42 days without charge, with limited judicial review.
The parliamentarians expressed “serious doubts” whether all the provisions of the draft legislation are in conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights. “A lack of appropriate procedural safeguards may lead to arbitrariness”, the unanimously adopted text underlines.
Also, parliamentary involvement in the extension of pre-charge detention, as proposed, “is not appropriate”. Hence, from the perspective of the separation of powers, “the decision to maintain a person in custody is a judicial function with respect to which a legislative, political body should, as a matter of principle, have no say.”
The Assembly resolved to undertake a thorough study on this subject. According to the parliamentarians, the British draft legislation should be examined within the framework of a more general comparative study in order “to assess, in particular, the compatibility of such legislation with the European Convention on Human Rights”.