{"id":12016,"date":"2026-02-18T15:13:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apador.org\/?p=12016"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:59:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:59:31","slug":"drepturi-in-lipsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/drepturi-in-lipsa\/","title":{"rendered":"Absent Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Absent Rights: Making Sure Trials in Absence Are Fair Across Europe<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When someone is tried and convicted without being present in court, this is known as a <strong>trial in absence<\/strong>. These cases raise serious questions about fairness \u2014 especially when the person did not know about the trial or did not clearly give up their right to attend.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Across the European Union, countries rely on each other to recognise and enforce court decisions. This system is based on mutual trust and legal tools such as:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Framework Decision 2002\/584\/JHA (European Arrest Warrant)<\/li>\n<li>Directive (EU) 2016\/343 (Right to be Present at Trial)<\/li>\n<li>Framework Decision 2009\/909\/JHA<\/li>\n<li>Framework Decision 2008\/947\/JHA<\/li>\n<li>Regulation (EU) 2018\/1805<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">These instruments allow countries to cooperate quickly \u2014 for example, by surrendering a person under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) so a sentence can be enforced.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But cooperation can break down when there are doubts about whether the original trial was fair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Why This Project Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The right to be present at trial is protected under:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>European Convention on Human Rights (Article 6 \u2013 right to a fair trial)<\/li>\n<li>Court of Justice of the European Union case-law<\/li>\n<li>Directive (EU) 2016\/343 (Articles 8 and 9)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Articles 8 and 9 of the Directive were designed to:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Strengthen protection of the right to be present at trial<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that a person clearly waived that right if absent<\/li>\n<li>Guarantee a genuine opportunity for a new trial if they did not<\/li>\n<li>Reduce refusals and delays in European judicial cooperation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, legal experts across Europe \u2014 particularly within the Legal Experts Advisory Panel (LEAP), coordinated by Fair Trials \u2014 have identified ongoing problems in how trials in absence are conducted in practice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">These issues are especially important for EU citizens living abroad. People who move to another Member State may miss court proceedings in their home country. If they are later arrested under a European Arrest Warrant, the fairness of the original trial becomes crucial.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When trials in absence are not handled properly, this can:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Undermine mutual trust between countries<\/li>\n<li>Cause delays or refusals in surrender<\/li>\n<li>Harm individuals and their families<\/li>\n<li>Damage confidence in the EU as an area of justice and rule of law<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>What Makes This Project Different<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Most previous EU-funded projects have focused on what happens <strong>at the enforcement stage<\/strong> \u2014 when a country is asked to execute a European Arrest Warrant.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Absent Rights goes further.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It looks at what happens:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>Before<\/strong> an EAW is issued (how the trial in absence was conducted), and<\/li>\n<li><strong>After<\/strong> surrender (whether a real opportunity for a retrial exists).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project examines:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Whether defendants were properly informed<\/li>\n<li>The role of court-appointed (ex officio) lawyers<\/li>\n<li>Whether retrial procedures are effective in practice<\/li>\n<li>New developments such as remote participation via videoconference<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">By studying laws, court decisions, and real-life practice across several Member States, the project aims to understand the root causes of friction and failure in judicial cooperation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>What the Project Will Deliver<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Absent Rights will produce:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>A comprehensive European research report<\/li>\n<li>Practical recommendations for Member States<\/li>\n<li>Legal briefing notes for defence lawyers and practitioners<\/li>\n<li>Tools to support advocacy and strategic litigation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">These outputs will help ensure proper implementation of:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights<\/li>\n<li>Articles 8 and 9 of Directive 2016\/343<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Over time, this should lead to:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Fewer unfair convictions in absence<\/li>\n<li>Fewer refusals of European Arrest Warrants<\/li>\n<li>Faster and smoother judicial cooperation<\/li>\n<li>Stronger rule of law across the EU<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Who Will Benefit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project supports:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>EU policy-makers<\/strong>, especially the European Commission, in monitoring implementation<\/li>\n<li><strong>National legislators and justice ministries<\/strong>, who shape criminal procedure laws<\/li>\n<li><strong>Defence lawyers<\/strong>, who protect fair trial rights in court<\/li>\n<li><strong>Judicial authorities<\/strong> handling cross-border cooperation cases<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">By improving understanding and practical implementation, Absent Rights aims to strengthen trust between justice systems \u2014 and ensure that cooperation in criminal matters is both effective and fair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The Bigger Picture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The European Union is built on freedom of movement and mutual trust between Member States. That trust depends on fair and reliable justice systems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Absent Rights works to ensure that when someone is convicted without being present, their fundamental rights are respected \u2014 and that judicial cooperation across Europe remains strong, credible, and just.<\/p>\n<div class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto [--thread-content-margin:--spacing(4)] @w-sm\/main:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(6)] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(16)] px-(--thread-content-margin)\">\n<div class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-1\" dir=\"auto\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"23e722d8-6302-46cb-82a7-f749932f4085\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-5-2\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[1px]\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full wrap-break-word light markdown-new-styling\">\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"19\">Project Partners<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"21\" data-end=\"304\">Absent Rights brings together leading organisations from across Europe with deep expertise in criminal justice, human rights, research, and judicial training. Together, they combine practical experience, academic knowledge, and strong advocacy capacity at both national and EU level.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"21\" data-end=\"304\"><strong><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Fair Trials Europe<\/span><\/span> (FTE)<\/strong> is the Project Coordinator. The other partners are: <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">APADOR-CH<\/span><\/span> (Romania), B<span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">ulgarian Helsinki Committee<\/span><\/span> (Bulgaria),\u00a0<span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Centre for European Constitutional Law<\/span><\/span> (CECL \u2013 Greece),\u00a0<span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology<\/span><\/span> (INCC\/NICC \u2013 Belgium) and\u00a0<span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights<\/span><\/span> (HFHR \u2013 Poland).<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4268\" data-end=\"4421\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"z-0 flex min-h-[46px] justify-start\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12017\" src=\"https:\/\/apador.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/funded-EU.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"117\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apador.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/funded-EU.jpg 353w, https:\/\/apador.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/funded-EU-300x59.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Absent Rights. Reinforcing the right to presence at trial as a foundation for mutual trust is funded by the European Commission-EU under the Justice Programme (JUST)2025<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Project duration: 24 months<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When someone is tried and convicted without being present in court, this is known as a trial in absence. These cases raise serious questions about fairness \u2014 especially when the person did not know about the trial or did not clearly give up their right to attend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1900,41,1901,1902,1139,173],"class_list":["post-12016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-derulare","tag-absent-rights","tag-apador-ch","tag-drepturi-in-lipsa","tag-drepturi-procesuale","tag-fair-trials","tag-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12016"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12037,"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016\/revisions\/12037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apador.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}