Defense Right of persons in vulnerable situations

Abstract

The Constitutional Court points out that the guarantees that integrate the right to a fair trial include the right to a defense and to legal counsel. However, and as a starting hypothesis, there are judicial proceedings in Spain in which the legislator does not provide for the mandatory intervention of a lawyer. If the right to defense and legal assistance is precisely intended to ensure the effective realization of the procedural principles of equality and contradiction, the subjects in a situation of vulnerability are not in a situation of equality with those who are not in such a situation. For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to identify who is in a situation of vulnerability and to analyze whether the right of defense of such persons may be infringed. The methodology of this paper will focus on the analysis of the applicable legislation, as well as the content of the Brasilia Rules of Access to Justice for Persons in a Vulnerable Situation and of the doctrine that has dealt with the issue. The result obtained, after the analysis, is the possible violation of the fundamental right recognized in Article 24 of the Constitution of persons in vulnerable situations