Written by Yusto Habiye, Consultant
The legal system in criminal proceedings requires not only justice to be done but to manifestly and undoubtedly seen to be done, the provision of Article 13 (6) (a) Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977 as amended several times, aims at ensuring equality before the law and protection of an accused as it renders entitlement to fair hearing and rights of appeal as a legal remedy against courts or any agency making decision that affects a person, the constitution guarantees equality before the law and prohibits enactments of discriminatory laws. Generally, an accused person is presumed innocent until is proven guilty by a court of law, it is this notion of presumption of innocence by the constitution that shapes the laws of the land to ensure the accused’s rights in the course of a trial or criminal investigation are protected.
Subsequently, the Constitutional foundation of the presumption of innocence structures our laws, especially the Criminal procedure Act Revised Edition 2019, which sets principles and standards to defend criminal suspects in the criminal justice process, these rules play a role in all stages of the criminal justice process, starting with the initial police conduct, arrest, investigation, trial, sentencing and appeal.
To protect the rights of criminal suspects in Criminal Proceedings, the Criminal Procedure Act Revised Edition 2019 provides for the following rights of an accused person:
Rights of the criminal suspect during the initial police conduct. A person charged with an offence has the right not to be threatened or induced by police officers for him to make any statement with reference to the charge against him under as per section 10(5) Criminal Procedure Act (CPA). Section 53 of the same act provides that a person under restraint has the right not to answer any question asked by a police officer unless he is informed by Such police officer his name and rank, in the language that an officer is fluent and if possible orally, that he is under restraint, and the offence for which he is restrained for. The police officer has a duty to caution the suspect, and the suspect is not obliged to answer any question asked other than a question seeking particulars of his name and address.
The right to communicate with a lawyer, relative or friend is provided under section 53 (c) (ii) of The CPA, also Suspects under restraint have the right to be treated with humanity as provided under Section 55(1) CPA. The law provides further that, the suspect should not be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
During the arrest, the suspect has the right to be told the reason for his arrest, that is; the substance of the offence for which he is being arrested and the true reasons or grounds of his arrest, except in circumstances where the accused himself ought to know the substance of the offence or if the accused makes impractical for the arresting person to tell him the substance of the offence,
for example in circumstances where an accused runs away or starts a fight against the police officer. Right to be granted bail, the accused person has not only the right to be granted bail as provided by section 148 (1) of the CPA but also the right to be told of his right to be granted bail by an arresting officer as provided under S.64 (5) CPA. Also, Suspects under restraints have rights to be provided with medical treatment, advice or assistance in respect of an illness or an injury (S. 55 CPA.), Right to be heard before the court of law is another important right of an accused, after the charge sheet has been made and read over to the accused person, an accused has right to answer the charge in his defence, section 228 (1) of the CPA guides the Court to ensure the right to be heard is granted accordingly.
The article is written by Yusto Habiye, Consultant – at Linex Attorneys