In order to do justice, it is necessary that the process and the performance of all those involved in the proceedings be guaranteed by the rule of law. The protection of this fundamental guarantee is part of the equation of an efficient system capable of administering justice in an impartial and responsible manner.
This right prevents any manipulation or arbitrariness. The right to defense does not expire and must be complied with from the beginning of the investigation, otherwise any violation may be vitiated by nullity. The right to defense does not expire and must be complied with from the beginning of the investigation, otherwise any violation may be vitiated by nullity.
This guarantee is provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human RightsThe Charter of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal on the basis of full equality. Similarly, this charter of human rights emphasizes that every person accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty and before the law, in a public trial in which all his rights to legitimate self-defense are guaranteed.
How is the right to defense exercised?
In order to assert the defense, it is necessary to guarantee the right of the accused to: to be heard, to assert his own reasons and arguments, to controvert, contradict, object to evidence that prejudices him, to request the practice of diligence of investigation that bring means of evidence to the process, to employ all the necessary legal resources that the law considers (appeal, reposition, cassation, review, complaint, among others), to always be assisted by a private or public attorney (qualified and specialized in the specific matter of the legal process) in case the accused does not have the necessary resources to hire these professional services, and to be informed of everything that happens in the proceedings against him.
Spain establishes the right to a defense and to the assistance of a lawyerThe right to be informed of the accusation and to the execution of a public process without undue delay, complying with all the guarantees and using all the relevant means of proof. The constitution of the European country also emphasizes that all accused have the right to the presumption of innocence, not to testify against themselves, not to confess guilt, in the same way is established in Article 49.1 of the Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela.
Likewise, in Venezuela, in accordance with Article 23 of its Constitution, the following are the main provisions of the Venezuelan ConstitutionIn this regard, the pro-citizen principle is emphasized, in which the covenants and conventions signed and ratified have constitutional hierarchy, as is the case of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil Rights, which guarantees due process applied to all judicial and administrative proceedings. It highlights the principle of double instance that any person found guilty has the right to appeal the decision and that when the right to due process is violated, the evidence presented will be considered null and void.
At Alan Aldana & Abogados, we always remember the great French jurist Raymond Saleilles, when we quote him as follows "I defend my clients, I don't judge them."That is why we use all the necessary legal resources, complemented by multidisciplinary teams of experts with which we protect the most important legal asset for a human being after life, such as freedom.
