Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
CHAPTER 1
PROTECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Provisions to secure protection of law
8. (1) If any person is charged with a criminal offence, then, unless the charge is withdrawn, the case shall be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law.
(2) Every person who is charged with a criminal offence -
a. shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty ;
b. shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable, in a language that he understands and in detail, of the nature of the offence charged ;
c. shall be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence ;
d. shall be permitted to defend himself before the court in person or, at his own expense, by a legal practitioner of his own choice ;
e. shall be afforded facilities to examine in person or by his legal representative the witnesses called by the prosecution before the court, and to obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on his behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to witnesses called by the prosecution ; and
f. shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at the trial.
and except with his own consent the trial shall not take place in his absence unless he so conducts himself as to tender the continuance of the proceedings in his presence impracticable and the court has ordered him to be removed and the trial to proceed in his absence ;
Provided that the trial may take place in his absence in any case in which or is so provided by a law under which he is entitled to adequate notice of the charge and the date, time and place of the trial and to a reasonable opportunity of appearing before the court.
(3) When a person is tried for any criminal offence, the accused person or any person authorized by him in that behalf shall, if he so requires and subject to payment of such reasonable fee as may be prescribed by law, be given within a reasonable time after judgment a coup for the use of the accused person of any record of the proceedings made by or on behalf of the court.
(4) A person shall not be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence that is severer in severer in degree or description than the maximum penalty that might have been imposed for that offence at the time when is was committed.
(5) A person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted of acquitted shall not again be tried for that offence of which he could have been convicted at the trial for that offence, save upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal.
(6) A person shall not be tried for a criminal offence if he shows that he has been pardoned for that offence.
(7) A person who is tried for a criminal offence shall not be compelled to give evidence at the trial ;
provided that nothing in this subsection shall prevent the prosecution or the court from commenting on his failure to give evidence on his own behalf or prevent the court from drawing inferences from any such failure.
EDIT.