48
GÄFGEN v. GERMANY JUDGMENT
proof of the victim’s guilt, irrespective of its probative value. Any other
conclusion would only serve to legitimise, indirectly, the sort of morally
reprehensible conduct which the authors of Article 3 of the Convention
sought to proscribe or, in other words, to “afford brutality the cloak of law”
(see the judgment in Jalloh, cited above, § 105). In its Jalloh judgment, the
Court left open the question whether the use of real evidence obtained by an
act classified as inhuman and degrading treatment, but falling short of
torture, always rendered a trial unfair, that is, irrespective of, in particular,
the weight attached to the evidence, its probative value and the opportunities
of the defendant to challenge its admission and use at trial (ibid.,
§§ 106-07). It found a breach of Article 6 in the particular circumstances of
that case (ibid., §§ 107-08).
168. As regards the use of evidence obtained in breach of the right to
silence and the privilege against self-incrimination, the Court reiterates that
these are generally recognised international standards which lie at the heart
of the notion of fair procedures under Article 6. Their rationale lies, inter
alia, in the protection of the accused against improper compulsion by the
authorities, thereby contributing to the avoidance of miscarriages of justice
and to the fulfilment of the aims of Article 6. The right not to incriminate
oneself, in particular, presupposes that the prosecution in a criminal case
seek to prove their case against the accused without resort to evidence
obtained through methods of coercion or oppression in defiance of the will
of the accused (see, inter alia, Saunders v. the United Kingdom [GC],
17 December 1996, § 68, Reports 1996-VI; Heaney and McGuinness v.
Ireland, no. 34720/97, § 40, ECHR 2000-XII; and the judgment in Jalloh,
cited above, § 100).
(b) Application of these principles to the present case
169. As the requirements of Article 6 § 3 concerning the rights of the
defence and the principle against self-incrimination are to be seen as
particular aspects of the right to a fair trial guaranteed by Article 6 § 1, the
Court will examine the complaints under those two provisions taken
together (compare, among other authorities, Windisch v. Austria,
27 September 1990, § 23, Series A no. 186; Lüdi v. Switzerland, 15 June
1992, § 43, Series A no. 238; Funke v. France, 25 February 1993, § 44,
Series A no. 256-A; and Saunders, cited above, § 68).
170. In examining whether, in the light of the above principles, the
criminal proceedings against the applicant, who, from the outset, had
objected to the use of evidence obtained in breach of his Convention rights,
can be deemed to have been fair as a whole, the Court must consider, firstly,
the nature of the Convention violation at issue and the extent to which the
impugned evidence was obtained thereby. It refers to its above finding that
the applicant’s statement on the morning of 1 October 2002 during his
interrogation by E. was extracted in violation of Article 3 (see
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