According to Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the ECHR): “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.” (for the content of Article 6 of the ECHR see here).
Article 6 protects the proper administration of justice. The procedural guarantees of the proper administration of justice include the presumption of innocence which states that any person accused of an offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law. In the case of statements which may prove prejudicial to the accused, the ECtHR considers that these are in breach of Article 6 when they come from judges and other public officials. Information to the public on matters relating to criminal proceedings must be given with discretion and a judicious choice of words (see more).
Article 13 of the ECHR establishes the right of anyone whose rights have been violated to have access to an effective remedy before the national authorities and therefore imposes an obligation on the state to provide appropriate remedies for this purpose (see more).
On 31 January 2023, the judgement in the case Savvaidou v Greece (Case No 58715/15) was delivered.
The case concerns statements made by a government representative immediately after the applicant was dismissed from her position as Secretary General of Public Finance, while criminal proceedings were pending against Ms Savvaidou for embezzlement of funds. On leaving the Council of Ministers, the government spokeswoman made a statement implying that the defendant was guilty of the charges (see the statements in paragraph 4 of the decision). It is noted that, as stated in the ECtHR judgement, the applicant was not found guilty of any criminal offence.
The applicant, relying on Article 6 § 2 of the Convention, complained of a breach of the principle of the presumption of innocence in the light of those statements and, relying on Article 13, stated that she had no effective remedy available to her to remedy the alleged breach of Article 6 § 2.
The Court found a violation of Article 6(2) of the ECHR, noting that the above statements: a) came from a senior representative of the state who has an obligation to respect the presumption of innocence; b) were made while the criminal proceedings were pending; c) appeared to prejudge the outcome of the case and created the impression that the applicant had been involved in acts contrary to the public interest and that she had links with corruption.
Finally, the Court also found a violation of Article 13 of the ECHR due to the lack of an effective remedy before the Greek courts.
Respect for fundamental rights is one of the key components of the rule of law. The fundamental rights that every citizen should enjoy are guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a primary and undeniable obligation of the state to respect these rights.
In this particular case, however, the European Court of Human Rights held that the applicant’s right to the proper administration of justice (Article 6 ECHR) was violated by the statements of the government representative which prejudged the outcome of her case. At the same time, the Court held that there was also a violation of Article 13 ECHR (right to an effective remedy) due to the lack of a remedy in national law enabling the applicant to obtain redress for the violation of her presumption of innocence.
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