The Council of Europe issued a new human rights handbook, Protecting the right to a fair trial under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on Article 6 is a complex body of rules. The purpose of this handbook is to elucidate the subject to an extent that will allow readers to develop their own capacities as regards better structuring and reasoning of legal points in favour (or in defence) of an alleged violation of the Convention – at the national or international level, whether in the context of actual proceedings in Strasbourg or in a more hypothetical academic exercise.

It was written primarily with practising lawyers in mind. As a legal practitioner’s tool, it includes a rather condensed summary of principles derived from the Court’s very extensive case-law under Article 6, while using language and style reminiscent of the Court’s own jurisprudence.

The authors have aimed to depict a coherent structure drawn from the wide array of express and implied rights enshrined in Article 6. At the same time, they have tried to cite as many cases as possible in order to show that the case-law is far from clear – or settled – in a number of instances.