Due Process Rights
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, these fundamental rules of due process, derived from the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, the Additional Protocols, and customary law, apply to anyone detained in connection with armed conflict or occupation:
Civilians detained for imperative reasons of security have the right of appeal, to be decided with the least possible delay, and the right to have their detention periodically reviewed. (In non-international conflict, detainees have the right to challenge the legality of their detention.)
No one may be convicted or sentenced unless he has received a fair trial affording all essential judicial guarantees, including the following rights:
to be tried by an impartial and regularly constituted court;
to be presumed innocent until proven guilty;
to be told—early on and in a language he understands—what he is accused of;
to be given the necessary rights and means of defense;
to be tried without undue delay;
to be able to examine witnesses against him;
to have the assistance of an interpreter, if necessary;
to be tried in his presence;
not to be required to testify against himself or to confess guilt;
to have judgment pronounced publicly;
to be told of his rights of appeal and what time limits there are;
to be convicted only of a crime that he himself committed;
not to be punished more than once for the same act; to be convicted only for what was a crime at the time of the act in question, and to have a sentence no more severe than the law allowed at the time of the act in question.
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