Hearing evidence in open court
Article 6 (3)(d) is an aspect of the right to fair trial guaranteed by Article 6 (1), which, in principle, requires that all evidence must be produced in the presence of the accused in a public hearing with a view to adversarial argument. As with the other elements of Article 6 (3), it is one of the minimum rights which must be accorded to anyone who is charged with a criminal offence. As minimum rights, the provisions of Article 6 (3) constitute express guarantees and cannot be read, as it was by the Court of Appeal in R. v. Sellick and Sellick [2005] EWCA Crim 651, as illustrations of matters to be taken into account when considering whether a fair trial has been held. Equally, even where those minimum rights have been respected, the general right to a fair trial guaranteed by Article 6 (1) requires that the Court ascertain whether the proceedings as a whole were fair.Al-Khawaja and Tahery v The United Kingdom [2009] ECHR 110
Categories: 5th edition, Chapter 12, updates