EIT: Tuomarin pojan työpaikka aiheutti tuomarin esteellisyyden

In Chamber judgment in the case of Sigurður Einarsson and Others v. Iceland (application no. 39757/15) the European Court of Human Rights held:

• unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights on account of a judge’s lack of impartiality,
• by six votes to one, that there had been no violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (b) of the European Convention in respect of the alleged denial of access to data, and,
• unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) in respect of the alleged failure to summon witnesses.

The case concerned criminal proceedings against four business executives linked to a share transaction in Kaupþing Bank before its collapse in 2008. The Court found in particular that one of the Supreme Court judges in the case had a son who had worked for Kaupþing both before and after its collapse. That link meant that the applicants could have had a justified fear that the judge lacked impartiality. It found that the authorities’ decisions on access to the evidence collected during the investigation and their actions related to the attendance of two witnesses on behalf of the defence had not breached the applicants’ right to a fair trial.

Press release