In a judgment handed down on Thursday, 5 September, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) emphasised minors facing criminal prosecution must be able to be assisted by a lawyer during the pre-trial stage (Case C-603/22).
In Poland, three minors facing charges in criminal court for breaking into a disused holiday centre were not informed of their rights and were questioned by the police without a lawyer present. Their court-appointed lawyers have requested that their previous statements be removed from the case file.
Having been referred a question for a preliminary ruling, the Court of Justice ruled that a child facing prosecution must be assisted by a lawyer—a court-appointed lawyer if necessary. This obligation must be fulfilled before the child is first questioned by police or any other law enforcement or judicial authority and, at the latest, at the time of this initial interrogation. Individuals should continue to enjoy these rights when it is appropriate in light of all the circumstances of the case, including the maturity and vulnerability of the persons concerned.
The CJEU stresses that minors must be informed of their procedural rights as soon as possible—at the latest, before they are first questioned. This information has to be communicated in a simple and accessible way. A standardised document, meant for adults, does not meet these requirements.
The Court of Justice notes that with regard to incriminating evidence derived from statements that a minor made during an interrogation conducted in breach of his or her rights, EU law does not oblige Member States to provide for a possibility where the court could declare such evidence inadmissible. However, [the CJEU] adds that the court must verify whether these rights have been respected and draw any inferences resulting from the violation of these rights, particularly with regard to the probative value of the evidence in question.
See the court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/dbw (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)