CHAPTER III
PART I
SEYCHELLOIS CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Article 19
1. Every person charged with an offence has the right, unless the charge is withdrawn, to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law.
2. Every person who is charged with an offence -
a. is innocent until the person is proved or has pleaded guilty;
b. shall be informed at the time the person is charged or as soon as is reasonably practicable, in, as far as is practicable, a language that the person understands and in detail, of the nature of the offence;
c. shall be given adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence to the charge;
d. has a right to be defended before the court in person, or, at the person's own expense by a legal practitioner of the person's own choice, or, where a law so provides, by a legal practitioner provided At public expense;
e. has a right to examine, in person or by a legal practitioner, the witnesses called by the prosecution before any court, and to obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on the person's behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to witnesses called by the prosecution;
f. shall, as far as is practicable, have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if the person cannot understand the language used at the trial of the charge;
g. shall not be compelled to testify at the trial or confess guilt;
h. shall not have any adverse inference drawn from the exercise of the right to silence either during the course of the investigation or at the trial; and
i. shall, except with the person's own consent, not be tried in the person's absence unless the person's conduct renders the continuance of the proceedings in the person's presence impracticable and the court has ordered the person to be removed and the trial to proceed in the person's absence.
3. When a person is tried for any offence that person or any other person authorised by that person, in that behalf shall, if either of them so requires and subject to payment of such reasonable fee as may be specified by or under any law, be given as soon as is practicable after judgment a copy for the use of that person of any record of the proceedings made by or on behalf of the court.
4. Except for the offence of genocide or an offence against humanity, a person shall not be held to be guilty of an offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute an offence, and a penalty shall not be imposed for any offence that is more severe in degree or description than the maximum penalty that might have been imposed for the offence at the time when it was committed.
EDIT.