The Practice of Thai Courts on the Right to a Fair Trail through Transnational Criminal Proceeding

Abstract

To achieve the goal of criminal justice, criminal proceedings must respect the right of the accused to a fair trial recognized by international human rights instruments, in particular, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The right to a fair trial must be guaranteed along the whole process of criminal proceedings not only in the proceeding in one single state but also in the trans-border criminal proceedings. Thailand is a party to the ICCPR, thus a right to a fair trial has been recognized by the provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand as well as the Criminal Procedure Code. However, in 2013, the Constitutional Court delivered its decision which may violate the right of the accused to a fair trial guaranteed by the Constitution. This study will be conducted to evaluate the practice of the Constitutional Court with regard to the right to a fair trial through transnational cooperation in criminal matters by comparing it with the practices of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).