Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
August 1993
Nortier v. the Netherlands - 13924/88
Judgment 24.8.1993
Article 6
Article 6-1
Impartial tribunal
Successive exercise by the same juvenile judge of the functions of investigating judge and review chamber, making pre-trial decisions, and trial judge: no violation
[This summary is extracted from the Court’s official reports (Series A or Reports of Judgments and Decisions). Its formatting and structure may therefore differ from the Case-Law Information Note summaries.]
As regards the judge's impartiality, what is decisive are not the subjective apprehensions of the suspect, however understandable, but whether in the particular circumstances of the case his fears can be held to be objectively justified - the mere fact that the juvenile judge also made pre-trial decisions, including decisions on detention on remand, cannot be taken as in itself justifying fears as to his impartiality - what matters is the scope and nature of these decisions - no special circumstances like those which obtained in the Hauschildt case.
Conclusion: no violation (unanimously).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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