As an accused in a criminal trial, you have the right to defend yourself during all stages of the criminal proceedings and the trial in court.
You have a right to defend yourself at all stages of criminal proceedings (pre-trial as well as in court). This means that you have the right to refuse a lawyer and use all the rights of defence on your own. If you are carrying out your own defence, you have to be given appropriate time and the facilities to prepare your defence. However, you retain the right to have a lawyer.
example You have to be given access to the case file, reasonable time to prepare and the possibility to be present at the court hearing.
The fact that you have chosen to defend yourself does not mean that you will be given more beneficial treatment in court. It means that you will have the same obligation to comply with all time limits and submit all the documents required by the court as if you were being defended by a qualified lawyer.
Exceptions
However, your right to defend yourself is not absolute. A person may not refuse a lawyer in the proceedings where he/she is not present. In certain situations, if it is in the interests of delivering a fair and just judgement, the court or prosecution may reject your refusal of a lawyer. This might happen in:
- cases against a minor
- cases where the accused is suffering from a mental or physical health impairment that prevents a full use of his/her procedural rights
- cases where the accused does not speak the language of the process
- cases of serious or grave crimes and where due to complexity and volume of the case it is doubtful if the accused can fully use his/her right to defence