The Role of International Legal Norms in Ensuring the "Right to a Legal Defense"

Abstract

On 22 November 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR adopted the "Declaration of the Rights and Freedoms of the Individual and Citizen."¹ Article 1 of the declaration states that universally recognized international norms on human rights have priority over the laws of the RSFSR where they directly give rise to rights and duties of citizens. But, in the words of A.M. Vasil'ev, this is "really only a defended, not a proclaimed right."² The systems of international and Soviet law set down the procedure and the order of realization of rights and freedoms and the ways and means for their legal defense. An important guarantee for the realization of rights and freedoms is ensuring the individual's right to a legal defense.