Uprawnienia obrońcy w procesie karnym – wybrane zagadnienia

The right of defence is one of the fundamental human rights. In criminal proceedings, its implementation may translate into defendant’s right of undertaking his defence on his own, as well as of having recourse to a professional defender. In this regard, the defender (an attorney or a legal counsel) has been given a certain set of entitlements which, on one hand, can aid in performing his own duties and, on the other hand, provides a legal framework for the execution of these duties. The way in which the defender’s activities are conducted depends on the will and the contribution of the defendant himself. At the meeting point of the defender-defendant relationship there may appear certain occurrences, and some of them prohibited by penal legislation, which imply a number of issues and thus need to be clarified. Those issues include, inter alia, the scope of the right of defence as well as defender’s competences, the lawfulness of the activities being undertaken, the question of the scope and framework of defender’s legal privilege with regard to his knowledge on the crime.