International human rights instrument and Indonesia Constitution (UUD 1945) have ensured the protection and respect of the right to justice, equality before the law, and freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment. This protection is guaranteed without exception, including for those tried in the criminal justice system. In ICCPR, every person in the process of determining the criminal charge against them is given procedural guarantees in accordance with Article 14. In correlation to fair trial right under Article 14, ICCPR ensures freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under Article 7 and freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention under Article 9.
Article 14 ICCPR is a fundamental yet complex right to be applied in the criminal justice system. General Comment 32 emphasizes that the rights under Article 14 have to be respected regardless of State's legal tradition and domestic law. It becomes obligatory for the State to respect the requests even though the rights under Article 14 are not considered nonderogable. Derogations of Article 14 are allowed as long as it could ensure that such derogation does not exceed those strictly required by the exigencies of the actual situation. However, on the other hand, General Comment 32 also affirms that guarantees of fair trial may never be made subject to measures of derogation that would circumvent the protection of non-derogable rights, for instance, concerning Article 7.
