Transnational Prosecutions, Methods of Obtaining Overseas Evidence, Human Rights Protection in Europe

This study analyses the collection of evidence in transnational inquiries in Europe and its consequences on the sphere of fundamental rights of the individuals involved. It stresses that this issue cannot be properly analysed without a broader viewpoint that requires ascertaining which countries are called upon to international cooperation and what substantial link the addressees of the transnational prosecution have with the law of these countries. This approach leads to extending the focus to how prosecutorial power should be distributed amongst several countries claiming the activation of their jurisdiction for the same case and, in a deeper sense, to which qualitative requirements a modern criminal law must have to grant offenders a fair adjudication while facing the challenges of an increasingly multicultural Europe. This study proposes the adoption of a common methodology in the analysis of both problems of the choice of the forum and the decision of the modes of investigation – a methodology which, starting with a strongly human rights-oriented perspective, pursues the achievement of a delicate balance between individual rights protection and the need for efficient transnational prosecution