S v Switzerland: ECHR 28 Nov 1991

ECHR Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) – Violation of Art. 6-3-c; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses award – domestic proceedings; Costs and expenses award – Convention proceedings.
A number of the applicant’s meetings with his lawyer were supervised by a police official, and his letters to his lawyer were intercepted and used for graphological reports.
Held: ‘an accused’s right to communicate with his advocate out of the hearing of a third person is part of the basic requirements of a fair trial in a democratic society and follows from Article 6(3)(c) of the Convention. If a lawyer were unable to confer with his client and receive confidential instructions from him without such surveillance, his assistance would lose much of its usefulness, whereas the Convention is intended to guarantee rights that are practical and effective (see inter alia the Artico judgment of 13 May 1980, series A no.37, p.16, para.33).’

Citations:

12629/87;13965/88, [1991] ECHR 54

Links:

Bailii

Cited by:

CitedBrennan v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Oct-2001
The applicant had complained that, after his arrest he had been refused adequate access to a lawyer. He had not been allowed to see his solicitor for two days, and only then in the presence of a police officer. No inferences had been drawn from his . .
CitedBrown, Regina v CACD 29-Jul-2015
The claimant, a patient hld at Rampton Hospital faced charges of attempted murder of two nurses. His lwayers had asked for the right to see their client in private, but eth Hospital objected, insisting on the presence of two nurses at all times. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Legal Professions, Police

Updated: 01 July 2022; Ref: scu.227232