Sir, Your article “EU approves proposal to try Britons in their absence in foreign courts” (Sept 3) presents only one side of the picture of the UK-sponsored EU framework decision on trials in absence.

Trials in absence are not new — they are already allowed under the national law of all European countries, including the UK. The new framework decision does not change that.

What it does change are the cross-border rules on when EU member states will help each other to ensure that people who deliberately evade their trial do not escape justice just because they have gone to another member state.

The new rules, widely supported by member states, strengthen legal safeguards for defendants. They mean, for example, that people must be guaranteed a right to a retrial (not just a right to apply for a retrial) where they were not represented by a lawyer acting under their instructions, or did not receive proper and timely notice of what was going on. And the definitions of what is adequate notification and legal representation have also been tightened up.

Some defence lawyers would like us to have gone even further, but we need to be careful not to produce an unworkable system which plays into the hands of people on the run from justice. We believe that the scheme is fully compatible with rights to a fair trial — experts in Strasbourg were specifically consulted about the draft new rules.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal

Attorney-General

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