Jespers v Belgium: ECHR 1981

ECHR (Commission) Article 6, paragraph I of the Convention
(a) A virulent press campaign can, in certain circumstances, adversely affect the fairness of a trial and involve the State’s responsibility, particularly if it is sparked off bv one of the State’s organs.
(b) Alleged failure by the public prosecutor’s office to include in the file and communicate to the defence certain relevant documents which are in its possession (Complaint declared admissible).
Article 26 of the Convention :
(a) Where it is alleged that the members of the jury could have been particularly open to influence by a press campaign concerning the accused, an application for the case to be referred to another court on grounds of legitimate suspicion (art. 542 of the Belgian Code of Criminal Procedure) constitutes a remedv which has to be exhausted.
(b) Where it is alleged that certain relevant documents have neither been included in the criminal file nor communicated to the defence by the public prosecutor’s office, a request for the review of the trial (art . 443, para. 3 of the Belgian Code of Criminal Procedure) is not a remedy the preliminary exhaustion of which is required.

Citations:

[1981] 27 DR 61, (1983) 5 EHRR 305, 8403/78

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 6(3) 26

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

CitedDavid McHugh, Regina v CACD 20-Jun-2003
. .
CitedSecretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills v Doffman and Another ChD 11-Oct-2010
The defendants applied for directors’ disqualification proceedings for the claim to be struck out or dismissed on the ground that the respondent had breached their rights to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights . .
CitedRegina v Cairns; Regina v Zaldi, Regina v Chaudary CACD 22-Nov-2002
The defendants applied for the defence statements of co-defendants to be disclosed. A co-defendant was to give evidence for the Crown, and they sought to have it excluded as unreliable.
Held: The 1996 Act created a duty of secondary . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Criminal Practice, Human Rights, Criminal Practice, Media

Updated: 17 May 2022; Ref: scu.243371