THE RIGHT OF THE ACCUSED TO ACCESS TO A LAWYER IN THE PRE-INVESTIGATION STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS - THE INFLUENCE OF THE ECHtR PRACTICE

Abstract

The right to defense is the most important guarantee for the accused to achieve procedural equality of the parties, which gives a chance to the person against whom the indictment is directed to effectively oppose the prosecutor side in the criminal proceedings. Realization of the right to defense is particularly important from the first action, which restricts the suspect's right to personal freedom, such as arres,t or detention in pre-trial proceedings. Also, the presence of a defense attorney is of crucial importance during interrogation by the police in the pre-investigation stage of proceedings, bearing in mind the particularly vulnerable position of the accused (suspect) in that time. In this way, abuse of the suspect is also prevented. The practice of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: The Court) has made significant progress in this domain, starting with the case of Salduz v. Turkey, to the cases of Beuze v. Belgium and Dvorski v. Croatia. In the paper, the author will point out the implications of the aforementioned case law for the procedural legislation of the member states of the Council of Europe, as well as for the law of the European Union.