Lawyers’ Committee for Human RIghts, with the expert support of UN Human Rights Team Serbia presents the second brief analysis HUMAN RIGHTS AND COVID-19 – Analysis of the changes in legal framework during a state of emergency and impact on enjoying human rights – The Right to a Fair Trial
In the Republic of Serbia, in order to prevent the spread of the infection and the effects caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Decision on Declaring a State of Emergency was adopted on March 15th 2020. This decision, as well as many other regulations concerning it, that were adopted, have resulted in the restriction of certain rights of citizens.
This analysis also chronologically shows the changes in the scope of enjoying guaranteed rights and the manner of regulating changes during the first month of the state of emergency (March 15th – April 15th, 2020), with an assessment of the compliance of activities and measures of all branches of the government with the requirements of the rule of law and the principles of human rights restrictions.
The focus of this analysis is the right to a fair trial, in particular the elements of the right to access to a court, the right to an independent and impartial trial, the right to a public hearing and the principle of immediacy, as well as the right to a legal certainty. Like the previous, the analysis presents the issues that relevant measures and restrictions had been creating, particularly to vulnerable groups, initiatives and proposals submitted to state authorities to solve or mitigate the issues, as well as the State’s response to the initiatives.
