Oikeudenkäynti oli oikeudenmukainen, vaikka epäilty ei ollut aluksi saanut tavata avustajaa

EIT:n suuren jaoston enemmistön mukaan avustajan puute ei tehnyt korjaamattomasti menettelystä 6 artiklan vastaista, koska ajalta ennen avustajan tapaamista ei ollut kertynyt näyttöä epäiltyä vastaan.

Lack of legal assistance in police custody did not irremediably infringe the fairness of criminal proceedings, against a person whose conditions of detention amount to inhuman and degrading treatment

In Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Simeonovi v. Bulgaria (application no. 21980/04), the European Court of Human Rights found:

• by twelve votes to five, that there had been no violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (c) (right to a fair

trial/right to legal assistance)

The case concerned the absence of legal assistance for the first three days of the detention of
Mr Simeonov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, and the conditions of the detention and prison regime imposed on him.

The Court also found that Mr Simeonov’s right to legal assistance had been restricted for the first three days of his police custody, but that that restriction had not irremediably infringed the criminal proceedings as a whole. In particular, the Court noted that no evidence capable of being used against Mr Simeonov had been obtained and included in the criminal file during that period; that Mr Simeonov, assisted by a lawyer of his own choosing, had voluntarily confessed two weeks after being charged, when he had been informed of his procedural rights, including the privilege against self-incrimination; that Mr Simeonov had actively participated in all stages of the criminal proceedings; that his conviction had not been based solely on his confession but also on a whole body of consistent evidence; that the case had been assessed at three judicial levels and that the domestic courts had provided adequate reasons for their decisions in both factual and legal terms and had properly examined the issue of respect for procedural rights.

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