The right to an interpreter. The violation of a fundamental right in Italy's courts

ABSTRACT The right of a person charged with a criminal offence to the free assistance of an interpreter when they do not speak the language of the court is guaranteed in Italy through the country’s ratification of a number of international treaties, first and foremost the European Convention on Human Rights. This fundamental right, ontained in art. 143 of the Italian Criminal Procedural Code,is intended to ensure that a person charged with a criminal offence who does not speak the language of the court enjoys the same right to a fair trial as those that do. This is a right that many peopje in Italy do not enjoy. When the Italian Criminal Procedural Code was reformed in 1989, little thought was given to this right as the number of immigrants was very small (around 1%) and the implications as regards the introduction of the adversarial system were not then clear. Consequently, no specific body was set up to deal with the selection of interpreters, nor did any of the legal professionals receive any kind of training in how to work with interpreters. This paper examines the problems of court interpreting in Italy, looking in particular at three emblematic cases.