Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section I General principles

Article 16 Scope and interpretation of fundamental rights

1. The fundamental rights enshrined in this Constitution shall not exclude such other rights as may be laid down by law and in the applicable rules of international law.

2. The provisions of this Constitution and of laws concerning fundamental rights shall be interpreted and construed in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section I General principles

Article 19 Suspension of the Exercise of Rights

1. Bodies that exercise sovereign power shall not jointly or separately suspend the exercise of rights, freedoms and guarantees, save in the case of a state of siege or a state of emergency declared in the form provided for in this Constitution .

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section I General principles

Article 20 Access to Law and the Courts

(2) Subject to the terms of the law, everyone shall possess the right to legal information and advice, to legal counsel and to be accompanied by a lawyer before any authority.

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section II Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards
Chapter I Personal Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards

Article 29 Application of Criminal Law

1. No one shall be sentenced under the criminal law unless the action or omission in question is punishable under the terms of a pre-existing law, nor shall any person be the object of a security measure unless the prerequisites therefore are laid down by a pre-existing law.

2. The provisions of the previous paragraph shall not preclude the punishment up to the limits laid down by internal Portuguese law of an action or omission which was deemed criminal under the general principles of commonly recognised international law at the moment of its commission .

3. No sentence or security measure shall be applied unless it is expressly sanctioned in a pre-existing law.

4. No one shall be the object of a sentence or security measure that is more severe than those provided for at the moment of the conduct in question, or at that at which the prerequisites for the application of such a measure were fulfilled. However, criminal laws the content of which is more favourable to the defendant shall be applied retroactively .

5. No one shall be tried more than once for the same crime.

6. Citizens who are unjustly convicted shall possess the right to the review of their sentences and to compensation for such damages as they have suffered, as laid down by law .

Part I Fundamental rights and duties
Section II Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards
Chapter I Personal Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards

Article 32 Safeguards in Criminal Proceedings

1. Criminal proceedings shall ensure all necessary safeguards for the defence, including the right to appeal.

2. Every defendant shall be presumed innocent until his sentence has transited in rem judicatam, and shall be brought to trial as quickly as is compatible with the safeguards of the defence.

3. Defendants shall possess the right to choose counsel and to be assisted by him in relation to every procedural act. The law shall specify those cases and phases of proceedings in which the assistance of a lawyer shall be mandatory.

4. Preliminary investigations shall be conducted entirely under the responsibility of a judge, who may, subject to the terms of the law, delegate the practise of such investigative acts as do not directly concern fundamental rights to other persons or bodies.

5. Criminal proceedings shall posses an accusatorial structure, and trial hearings and such preliminary investigative acts as the law may require shall be subject to the principle of pleading and counter-pleading .

6. The law shall define the cases in which, subject to the safeguarding of the rights of the defence, the presence of the defendant or the accused at procedural acts, including trial hearings, may be dispensed with.

7. Victims shall possess the right to take part in proceedings, as laid down by law.

8. All evidence obtained by torture, coercion, infringement of personal physical or moral integrity, improper intromission into personal life, the home, correspondence or telecommunications shall be deemed null and void.

9. No case shall be withdrawn from a court that already had jurisdiction under an earlier law.

10. Defendants in proceedings concerning administrative offences or in any proceedings in which penalties may be imposed shall possess the right to be heard and to a defence.

Article 55
Rights of persons during an investigation
1. In respect of an investigation under this Statute, a person:
(a) Shall not be compelled to incriminate himself or herself or to confess guilt;
(b) Shall not be subjected to any form of coercion, duress or threat, to torture or to any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
(c) Shall, if questioned in a language other than a language the person fully understands and speaks, have, free of any cost, the assistance of a competent interpreter and such translations as are necessary to meet the requirements of fairness; and
(d) Shall not be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and shall not be deprived of his or her liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established in this Statute.
2. Where there are grounds to believe that a person has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court and that person is about to be questioned either by the Prosecutor, or by national authorities pursuant to a request made under Part 9, that person shall also have the following rights of which he or she shall be informed prior to being questioned:
(a) To be informed, prior to being questioned, that there are grounds to believe that he or she has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(b) To remain silent, without such silence being a consideration in the determination of guilt or innocence;
(c) To have legal assistance of the person's choosing, or, if the person does not have legal assistance, to have legal assistance assigned to him or her, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by the person in any such case if the person does not have sufficient means to pay for it; and
(d) To be questioned in the presence of counsel unless the person has voluntarily waived his or her right to counsel.

Article 63
Trial in the presence of the accused
1. The accused shall be present during the trial.
2. If the accused, being present before the Court, continues to disrupt the trial, the Trial Chamber may remove the accused and shall make provision for him or her to observe the trial and instruct counsel from outside the courtroom, through the use of communications technology, if required. Such measures shall be taken only in exceptional circumstances after other reasonable alternatives have proved inadequate, and only for such duration as is strictly required.

Article 66
Presumption of innocence
1. Everyone shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty before the Court in accordance with the applicable law.
2. The onus is on the Prosecutor to prove the guilt of the accused.
3. In order to convict the accused, the Court must be convinced of the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

Article 67
Rights of the accused
1. In the determination of any charge, the accused shall be entitled to a public hearing, having regard to the provisions of this Statute, to a fair hearing conducted impartially, and to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail of the nature, cause and content of the charge, in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defence and to communicate freely with counsel of the accused's choosing in confidence;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) Subject to article 63, paragraph 2, to be present at the trial, to conduct the defence in person or through legal assistance of the accused's choosing, to be informed, if the accused does not have legal assistance, of this right and to have legal assistance assigned by the Court in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment if the accused lacks sufficient means to pay for it;
(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him or her and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his or her behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him or her. The accused shall also be entitled to raise defences and to present other evidence admissible under this Statute;
(f) To have, free of any cost, the assistance of a competent interpreter and such translations as are necessary to meet the requirements of fairness, if any of the proceedings of or documents presented to the Court are not in a language which the accused fully understands and speaks;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify or to confess guilt and to remain silent, without such silence being a consideration in the determination of guilt or innocence;
(h) To make an unsworn oral or written statement in his or her defence; and
(i) Not to have imposed on him or her any reversal of the burden of proof or any onus of rebuttal.
2. In addition to any other disclosure provided for in this Statute, the Prosecutor shall, as soon as practicable, disclose to the defence evidence in the Prosecutor's possession or control which he or she believes shows or tends to show the innocence of the accused, or to mitigate the guilt of the accused, or which may affect the credibility of prosecution evidence. In case of doubt as to the application of this paragraph, the Court shall decide.