Chapter 7 • The Right to a Fair Trial: Part II – From Trial to Final Judgement 9. Concluding Remarks This chapter has explained the principal rights that must be effectively ensured to accused persons in the determination of any criminal charges against them, rights which must be protected from the beginning of the trial proceedings until conviction or acquittal. It has also shown the indispensable role played by domestic judges in the fair administration of justice, a role which runs like a thread through Chapters 4 onwards. The essential role both of prosecutors and of defence lawyers has also been emphasized whenever relevant. But the national judge is not only responsible for his or her own actions stricto sensu. He or she is also to some extent responsible for those of prosecutors and defence lawyers, to the extent that, where the judge has any indication that the prosecutor has erred in the course of the criminal inquiry by resorting to unlawful means of investigation, or that the defence lawyer has not duly consulted with his or her client or simply has not acted professionally, that judge has a duty to intervene to correct those errors or insufficiencies, since such action may be essential in order to guarantee a fair hearing and equality of arms between the prosecution and the defence. The rights dealt with in this chapter are manifold and it is difficult, or even impossible, to single out some as being more important than others. These rights indeed form a whole, and, together with the rights dealt with in Chapters 4 to 6, constitute the foundation on which a society respectful of human rights in general, including the rule of law, is built. Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 313