The Impact of ECHR and the Case-Law of the ECtHR on the Development of the Right to Legal Assistance in International Criminal Courts (ICTY, ICTR, ICC)

Abstract

The European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights have a significant impact not only on national legal order but also on international criminal courts. The article is dedicated to analyzing that impact in the context of the right to legal assistance. We ascertain the purpose of the establishment of international criminal courts, the specificity of the right to legal assistance in the European system of human rights protection, the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on the drafting of statutes of the international criminal courts and influence of the European Convention on Human Rights and case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the interpretation of the right to legal assistance in the international criminal courts. Also the primacy of the right to legal assistance is proved, which is provided in the ECHR to the statutes of international criminal courts. At the same time, the international criminal courts, taking into account the purpose of their establishment and jurisdiction, give additional guarantees of the right to legal assistance.