Fury over moves to hold more court cases in secret which will 'sweep away centuries of fair trial protections'



Radical changes to the justice system will sweep away centuries of fair trial protections, senior lawyers and civil liberty campaigners warned yesterday.



Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke wants ministers to have the power to withhold evidence they deem ‘sensitive’ from civil court hearings.



But critics say the reforms will lead to a rise in the number of secret hearings and would deny defendants the right to challenge evidence used against them.



Bad idea: Justice Secretary Ken Clarke's proposed changes to the justice system have received much criticism

There would be more ‘Closed Material Procedures,’ where evidence is only disclosed to a judge, minister or ‘Special Advocate’ – a barrister authorised to work on national security cases.



Often, the minister exercising this new power would be a party to the case in a move which campaigners argue is an extraordinary conflict of interest.

The reforms, set out in a Green Paper, also give greater protection to government agencies in civil cases, meaning it would be easier for organisations like M15 and M16 to hide any wrongdoing.



Civil rights group Liberty has launched a ‘secret justice’ campaign to fight the plans, which it warns will have a damaging effect on investigative journalism.



Critic: Liberty's director Shami Chakrabarti wants to see open courts remain just that

It says the reforms could have led to evidence in high profile court cases such as the Paddington rail crash or the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station being withheld from lawyers and the public.



Liberty’s director Shami Chakrabarti said: ‘The worst scandals in any democracy are often uncovered by a combination of open courts and investigative journalism.



‘This Green Paper proposes to end a centuries’ old principle that no one – even a public body – is above the law. Future ministers would be granted sweeping powers to lock down embarrassing inquests and civil claims against the powerful. Victims of gross abuses of power, the public and the Press could be left in the dark forever.



‘It was bad enough when criminal courts were replaced with secret commissions in the name of national security.



‘Now the entire civil justice system might go the same way in the name of the “public interest”.’



In a blow to the Government’s plans, 57 of the country’s 69 Special Advocates have written to ministers describing the proposals as ‘unsupportable’.



They said: ‘Closed Material Procedures represent a departure from the foundational principle of natural justice that all parties are entitled to see and challenge all the evidence relied upon before the court and to combat that evidence by calling evidence of their own.



‘They also undermine the principle that public justice should be dispensed in public.’

