Captain Serves was a French officer charged in 1988 before a military court, together with a lieutenant and corporal of his company, with the murder of a civilian in the Central African Republic. In 1989 the proceedings were quashed for procedural irregularity and on 19 April 1990 fresh proceedings were commenced against the lieutenant and the corporal. The charge against Captain Serves was not reinstated until 6 May 1992 and he was convicted in May 1994. During the period while the second charges were pending only against the lieutenant and corporal, Captain Serves was summoned to appear as a witness before the military investigating judge. He refused to take the oath and was fined for failing to give evidence.
Held: Although the first proceedings had been quashed in 1989, the evidence on which that investigation was based remained on the file and Captain Serves remained ‘charged’ with murder within the meaning of Article 6(1): see para. 42. He was therefore entitled to refuse to answer any questions from the judge which might tend to incriminate him. However, he should have taken the oath, heard the questions and refused to answer rather than simply refusing to be sworn. On this ground his complaint was dismissed.
Citations:
[1997] ECHR 82, 20225/92, (1997) 28 EHRR 265, [1997] ECHR 82
Links:
Statutes:
European Convention on Human Rights 6
Jurisdiction:
Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Hertfordshire County Council, ex parte Green Environmental Industries Ltd and Another HL 17-Feb-2000
A notice was given to the holder of a waste disposal licence to require certain information to be provided on pain of prosecution. The provision of such information could also then be evidence against the provider of the commission of a criminal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights
Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165554