Wojciech Jasiński, Michalina Marcia, and Kamil Sobański participated in the DigiRights conference at KU Leuven in Belgium

Wojciech Jasiński, Michalina Marcia, and Kamil Sobański participated in the ‘Digitalisation of Defence Rights: Time for New Perspectives… And Directives?’ conference, organized by the DigiRights Project at KU Leuven in Belgium. Additionally, Michalina and Kamil presented the results of their PhD research.

Kamil’s presentation focused on the accused’s right to interpretation in the context of International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings. He discussed interpretation challenges in the Ongwen case, the role of interpretation in the remote participation of Mr. Paul Gicheru during parts of the proceedings, and the potential digitalization of interpretation in the era of advancing AI. His presentation was part of the research project on virtual justice in the ICC proceedings funded by the Polish National Science Centre (2022/47/O/HS5/01229). More details about the project: https://digitaljustice.uwr.edu.pl/en/projects/virtual-justice-remote-proceedings-before-the-international-criminal-court-threat-or-opportunity-2023-2027/.

Michalina’s presentation focused on safeguarding legal assistance for persons deprived of liberty in the context of remote proceedings and remote participation. She examined the conditions necessary to preserve the effectiveness of the right to legal assistance in remote settings, emphasizing the importance of allowing suspects and defendants participating remotely to choose the location of their defense counsel. The presentation was delivered as part of a research project funded by the Polish National Science Centre (2024/53/N/HS5/01933). More information about the project: https://digitaljustice.uwr.edu.pl/en/projects/ai-and-defence-rights-friends-or-foes-2025-2028/.

A more in-depth analysis of these topics will be available in a forthcoming book chapters to be published following the conference.