HRC asks Government to withdraw Bill that deprives suspects of access to lawyers before statements are recorded

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has written to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe expressing grave concern that a proposed amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) will deprive suspects arrested and detained by police of access to Attorneys-at- law before their statements are recorded.

The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill was published on August 12, 2016, and has been presented to Parliament by the Ministry of Justice. It is yet to be taken up in the Oversight Committee.

It proposes to introduce section 37A to the CPC stating that: “any person who has been arrested and detained in custody, shall have the right to retain and consult an Attorney-at- law of his choice at his own expense, after the recording of his statements in terms of the provisions of subsection (1) of the section 110 and prior to being produced before a Magistrate”.

The HRC has pointed out to the Prime Minister that, “Although this section purports to give a right to arrested suspects to retain and consult an Attorney-at- law, such right as granted only after a statement is recorded from the suspect. Between the time of arrest and until the time of the conclusion of the recording of a statement, the suspects are deprived of access to their Attorneys-at -law”.

“The new Bill derogates from the rights already guaranteed by the State under Rules make by the Inspector General of Police under the Police Ordinance,” says N D Udalagama, HRC Chairperson.

Granting access to lawyers after the suspects’ statements are recorded and just before them being produced before a Magistrate “is of little consequence”, she warns.

The Bill is also contrary to accepted international standards of human rights which Sri Lanka is obliged to guarantee its people, Dr Udalagama asserts. She draws the Prime Minister’s attention to the relevant provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) whereby States are required to permit access to counsel from the inception of detention and allow prompt and regular access to lawyers.

The HRC has observed that many instances of torture, as well as cruel, inhuman treatment of suspects at police stations, occur between the period of arrest and the conclusion of the recording of their statements. “As such, depriving suspects under arrest and detention of access to their lawyers until the conclusions of their statements will result in a greater risk of suspects being subject to torture, cruel and inhuman treatment as well as illegal arrest and detention by errant police officers,” Dr Udagama emphasises to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

It is necessary to strengthen, not weaken, the rights of suspects to have access to lawyers, the HRC says. “Especially when Sri Lanka has embarked o a constitutional reform process, including the drafting of a new Chapter on Fundamental Rights that should accord with the highest international and national human rights standards, the presentation of this Bill is all the more problematic,” Dr Udagama argues. The HRC has called upon the Government to withdraw the Bill.