Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
June 1996
Thomann v. Switzerland - 17602/91
Judgment 10.6.1996
Article 6
Criminal proceedings
Article 6-1
Impartial tribunal
Criminal court composed of the same judges to try defendant first in absentia and then on retrial: 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.]
Judges who retry in defendant's presence a case that they have first had to try in absentia undertake fresh consideration of whole case without being bound by their first decision - all issues raised by the case remain open and are examined in adversarial proceedings with benefit of the more comprehensive information that may be obtained from appearance of defendant in person.
If a court had to alter its composition each time it accepted an application for retrial from a person convicted in his absence, such persons would be placed at an advantage in relation to defendants who appeared at the opening of their trial and that would contribute to slowing down the work of the courts.
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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