UK Embassy

Thai International Law Office Thailand

Our Law Firm is Listed and Trusted by Major European Embassies, Including the U.K. Embassy in Bangkok.

 In case of need, in particular, in case of criminal charges or serious accident, we will provide a consistent liaison with your embassy and work in concert and support of the consular section. 

When a foreign citizen goes abroad he is required to comply with local laws and, if he violates them, he must submit to the judicial system of the country in which he is located and pay the consequences, including criminal consequences. The condition of a foreigner or the lack of knowledge of the local regulations cannot be adduced as a justification and do not exempt him from criminal liability
That said, the compatriot who is in conditions of detention abroad can still count on consular assistance from the territorially competent diplomatic authority.

The Embassies or the Consulates can provide the inmate with different types of intervention.
It should first of all be emphasized that consular assistance concerns only foreign citizens belonging to "that embassy." Embassies or Consulates cannot assist other citizens, even if they are regularly resident in the country of that embassy.

WHAT THE EMBASSY OR CONSULATE CAN DO
Prisoner's consent and confidentiality of personal data.

According to what established by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 (art.36), if the foreigner so requests, the competent local Authorities must notify his detention, in any form, to the territorially competent diplomatic-consular Authority, which from that moment is activated to assist the prisoner.
It is essential to point out that no form of assistance for the citizen detained and admitted if the person concerned expressly opposes. In any case, Embassies or Consulates are required to protect the confidentiality of the personal data of prisoners assisted by them, in compliance with current privacy legislation. It will not be possible to provide sensitive data (for example, crimes committed, state of health, circumstances of the arrest, etc.) to third parties: friends, acquaintances, employers, journalists, or other subjects.
The interested party must expressly authorize communications with family members. At the first contact with the detainee, the diplomatic-consular officials must, therefore, ask for his consent to provide information to any relatives who have requested it.

As required by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (art.36), consular officers can visit their imprisoned compatriots, in a state of preventive detention or of any other form of imprisonment. This is the so-called consular visit, which can be carried out even if the foreign citizen is in a state of
pre-trial detention or has not yet reported a final conviction.
The consular visit must be requested by the Embassy or Consulate and authorized by the competent local authorities. In some countries, It is possible to visit the compatriot from the first moment of his detention, while in others the law provides that the detainee
can only receive visits after a minimum period of stay in prison.
It is an occasion to check the health and conditions of
detention of the foreign national, to deliver him - with the consent of the prison authorities - medicines and comfort items (books, linen, personal hygiene products, etc.), as well as any correspondence from family members.
If during the visits problems related to the state of health of the prisoner or the prisoner himself make written requests regarding his health conditions emerge, the Embassy or the Consulate may intervene at the local prison Authorities to request investigations and adequate medical treatment.
 
Critic Conditions. Criticism may also arise concerning the conditions of detention of the foreigner. In this case, the diplomatic, consular authority can sensitize the prison management to the problems encountered and the need to ensure a penitentiary regime which is as dignified and respectful of fundamental human rights as possible.
At the end of a consular visit, usually the staff of the Embassy or Consulate who made it contact the prisoner's family members to inform them about the health and detention conditions in which they found their relative.

Contacts with family members. 
Upon explicit request or with the foreigner's consent, the Embassy or Consulate can inform the family members of his arrest or detention.
This has the dual purpose of providing relatives with certain information on the conditions of their relative and of enabling them to be able to offer them moral and material support - for example, by visiting them, sending them, if necessary through the Embassy or Consulate, money or basic necessities, paying a deposit, choosing a lawyer for him, etc.
A single contact person who maintains contacts with the Headquarters should be chosen in order to make assistance more effective.

 In most places of detention, it is allowed receiving periodic visits from lawyers and family members, under certain conditions. The diplomatic-consular authority can provide information and support to relatives who intend to visit the fellow inmate, especially during the first meetings, or when the person concerned is in penitentiaries located in places more difficult to reach, or when linguistic difficulties arise and logistics that are difficult to overcome independently.
It is an occasion to check the health and conditions of
detention of the foreign national, to deliver him - with the consent of the prison authorities - medicines and comfort items (books, linen, personal hygiene products, etc.), as well as any correspondence from family members.
If during the visits problems related to the state of health of the prisoner or the prisoner himself make written requests regarding his health conditions emerge, the Embassy or the Consulate may intervene at the local prison Authorities to request investigations and adequate medical treatment.
 

Listed (trusted) lawyers.
Embassies or Consulates cannot represent fellow countrymen in court, choose a lawyer for him/her, or contribute to developing a defensive strategy.
The Offices can provide the countryman and his family with a list of referenced/trusted lawyers. It is a list that the Embassies and Consulates publish on their Internet sites and keep periodically updated with the names, contact details, and specializations of the lawyers "favourably known" to the Headquarters.
The compatriot is not obliged to choose a lawyer
present in the list. He can decide to give a mandate to a trusted professional if necessary, verifying with the Headquarters that the proposed fee complies with the local average. 

Even without intervening in the defensive strategy of the fellow inmate, the Embassies or Consulates can undoubtedly follow his legal situation by keeping in touch with the lawyer and family members.
The offices can also intervene to facilitate contacts between lawyers and relatives, for example, when there are language barriers.
In many cases, an official of the Embassy or Consulate can attend - with the judge's permission - hearings in the context of the criminal proceedings against his compatriot, but only as an observer and without any faculty to intervene on the merits of the judgment in progress. The presence of a consular representative is a sign of closeness to the accused foreigner but also testifies to the attention with which his case is followed by the Italian authorities, while fully respecting the autonomy and independence of the local judiciary.
 
The Offices can then ask the local Authorities for information on the state of the investigations and the trial and intervene, in close contact with the lawyers of the interested party, if there are reasons to believe that the judgment is too slow or disrespectful of the rights of defence and guarantees fundamental procedural.
Embassies or Consulates can also support the request for a pardon, or adherence to amnesty and pardon measures, already presented individually by the countryman through his lawyer, where required by local law.

EXTRADITION AND TRANSFER OF SENTENCED PERSONS
The extradition and transfer of convicted persons are two different procedures that can have the effect of moving a prisoner from one country to another.
The difference between the two institutes lies in the person responsible for the initiative and in the purpose of the operation.
In essence, the extradition takes place at the request of a State against a person wanted or sentenced for a crime generally committed in its territory, in order to try it or execute the sentence or the precautionary measure.
The transfer of the convicted person, on the other hand, takes place at the request of the interested party and has the objective of allowing the prisoner to serve part of the sentence in the country of origin.