Procedural Guarantees of Fair Trial under the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the procedural guarantees of a fair trial, defined by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in interpreting Article 6 of the Convention. The key elements of the right to a fair trial, in particular access to justice, are examined. The requirements of the independence and impartiality of the court are analyzed in their objective and subjective aspects. Particular attention is paid to the principle of publicity of the case and its limitations in the interests of morality, public order or national security, compliance with reasonable deadlines for judicial proceedings, which is assessed taking into account the complexity of the case, the behavior of the applicant and state authorities.

The purpose of the article is a comprehensive analysis of the procedural guarantees of a fair trial, defined by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in interpreting Article 6 of the Convention, identifying their content, features of application and significance for the national legal system of Ukraine.

Methods. Methods of case law analysis were used to study the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, namely: the formal-legal method for interpreting Article 6 of the ECHR, the comparative-legal approach for comparing European standards with the national legislation of Ukraine, as well as the system-structural and historical-legal methods for identifying the evolution of procedural guarantees of fair trial.

Results. The principles of equality of arms and adversarial proceedings, which provide for the opportunity for each party to familiarize themselves with all the evidence of the opposing party and comment on it, are examined in detail. Specific procedural guarantees in criminal cases are studied, in particular the presumption of innocence, the right to defense and its constituent elements. Problematic aspects of the implementation of the standards of Article 6 of the ECHR into the national legal system of Ukraine, identified on the basis of the analysis of the decisions of the ECHR against Ukraine, are considered, recommendations are provided for improving legislation and law enforcement practice.

Conclusions. The study shows that the European Court of Human Rights has formed a detailed system of procedural guarantees of fair trial, which covers all stages of the judicial process from access to justice to the execution of court decisions. It has been established that the practice of the Court is characterized by a dynamic approach to the interpretation of Article 6 of the Convention, taking into account the specifics of national legal systems and the desire to ensure the real, rather than theoretical, effectiveness of procedural rights. It has been determined that the standards of the ECHR are of direct importance for Ukraine, as they determine the guidelines for judicial reform and the criteria for assessing the compliance of national legislation with European requirements.