ECJ The applicant, suspected of involvement in an assault on a man by two hooded individuals in the underground car park of a Parisian residential block, was placed in custody in the context of a request for evidence on commission. In accordance with Article 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure applicable to the facts of the case, while being examined as a witness, he was asked to swear an oath. At the end of his custody, ordered in accordance with the provisions of Article 154 of the Code, he was placed under investigation on the charge of abetting an attempted murder. By a decision which became final in 2006, he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment, with one year suspended, for having ‘abetted the offence of deliberate violence causing more than eight days’ total incapacity for work, which L.E. and F.G. committed in collusion, with premeditation and with the use of a weapon, by giving the culprits instructions to commit the offence, in this instance by asking them to beat up and put pressure on a man whose identifying features he supplied’.
The European Court found that when placed in custody and obliged to swear an oath to tell the truth, the applicant was on a criminal charge and therefore enjoyed the right not to assist in his own incrimination and to remain silent. It concluded that paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 6 of the Convention had been infringed.
Judges:
Peer Lorenzen, President
Citations:
1466/07, [2010] ECHR 1 621
Links:
Statutes:
European Convention on Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Ambrose v Harris, Procurator Fiscal, Oban, etc SC 6-Oct-2011
(Scotland) The appellant had variously been convicted in reliance on evidence gathered at different stages before arrest, but in each case without being informed of any right to see a solicitor. The court was asked, as a devolution issue, at what . .
See Also – Brusco v France ECHR 2-Dec-2011
Declaration as to execution of judgment . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European, Criminal Practice
Updated: 25 August 2022; Ref: scu.425756
