Opinion of 14th October 201149 concerning the use of video conferencing vis-à-vis persons deprived of liberty 1/ Respect for the rights of the defence during court proceedings, in a disciplinary action or any formality affecting the exercise of a fundamental right is a cardinal principle of the fair trial derived from Article  16 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789.50 It presupposes, in criminal proceedings especially, for the person whose “case must be heard”, the possibility of submitting his observations, consulting the case file, being defended by counsel, and being able to lodge an appeal against the decision taken. It materialises in “the existence of just and equitable procedure ensuring balance of rights and parties” according to the formula consistently reiterated by the Constitutional Council and since 2000 incorporated into the preliminary article of the Code of Criminal Procedure: “Criminal procedure must be fair and adversarial, and preserve the balance of the parties’ rights”. Preservation of balance between the parties in criminal proceedings is indeed one aspect of the rights of the defence. According to the European Court of Human Rights, it is a matter of guaranteeing that “every party to civil proceedings should have the opportunity to present his case to the court in circumstances which do not place him at a substantial disadvantage vis-à-vis the opposing party” (ECHR, 27th October 1993, Dombo Beheer B.V. v. Netherlands, Series A n°274). It is also a matter of the accused’s being able to participate genuinely in the proceedings; in the context of a trial, he must be able firstly to attend the hearing, and secondly to understand what happens there. 2/ These principles have no absolute effect, however. Other considerations such as security or proper administration of justice are also material. 3/ International conventions thus acknowledge the possibility of using Published in the Journal Officiel de la République française of 9th November 2011, text n°65. 50 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789: http://www.historyguide. org/intellect/declaration.html 49 105