(b) Scope of cassation now considerably extended 7.2 The State party argues that the remedy of cassation is now considerably broader in scope than it used to be. The State party cites a Supreme Court judgement of 16 February 2004 which notes that, as originally conceived and as amended prior to the entry into force of the Spanish Constitution, the remedy of cassation was bound by a rigid formalism that precluded any review of the evidence save, in exceptional cases, on the basis of documentation providing incontrovertible proof of the error committed by the trial court. The State party maintains that the situation changed with the adoption of the new Constitution and the amendment of article 5.4 of the Judiciary (Organization) Act, which opened up ample opportunity for the review of evidence. The possibility of action for violation of the basic rights enjoyed by anyone accused of a criminal offence and, more fundamentally, the overriding right to an effective legal remedy and the presumption of innocence, as well as the requirement for an adequate account of the considerations and logic that led the court to hand down a given judgement, are a sufficient basis for asserting that the remedy can be effective. 7.3 The State party further argues that neither in Spain’s legal order nor in those of its neighbours do remedies of appeal imply a resubmission of the evidence. In the author’s case, the Supreme Court stressed that there is no remedy of appeal that allows a full repetition of the lower court proceedings. Under article 795 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which provides that judgements handed down by the criminal courts may be appealed in the provincial court or the National High Court, the grounds for application are restricted to breaches of procedural rules and safeguards, errors in the evaluation of the evidence and violations of the Constitution or the law. Application may be made only for examination of evidence that the lower court was unable to examine, or of evidence that was rejected without just cause, or of evidence that was admitted but not examined, for reasons not attributable to the appellant, and provided the right to a defence was violated. The State party goes on to list various European countries whose legislation, in its view, also precludes from appeals any repetition of the trial with a full resubmission of the evidence. 7.4 The State party points out that, in the author’s case, the Supreme Court deliberated at great length over whether the remedy of cassation includes a right to review of the judgement and the sentence. According to the State party, the judgement draws attention to the remarkable breadth of the review of proven facts, stating: “It is true that the 9 November 1993 judgement (in the Gómez Vázquez case) held that such evidence has to be evaluated exclusively 116 116 by the lower court in accordance with the provisions of article 741 of the Criminal Procedure Act, and that a re-evaluation of the evidence would change the nature of the remedy of cassation and turn it into a second hearing; however, that does not alter the fact that the remedy of cassation has lost its procedural rigidity and formalism and now provides numerous opportunities for review, including review of the provincial courts’ assessment of evidence.” 7.5 Thus the judgement cited by the State party shows that the old rules under which evidence already examined could not be re-examined have been superseded. Rational evaluation of the evidence, action in respect of presumption of innocence, the requirement for reasoned court rulings and the rejection under the Constitution of any suggestion of arbitrary action by the public authorities, all entail the possibility, through the cassation process, of reviewing and assessing evidence. The Supreme Court has established in its case law not only that the cassation process includes an assessment of the legality or illegality of the evidence submitted, but also that the review includes substantive examination of the evidence to determine whether it is incriminatory or exculpatory, or simply too flimsy to set aside the presumption of innocence. The maxim in dubio pro reo, a principle of interpretation long considered not to apply in cassation proceedings, is now one of the principles applied in assessing evidence and may be reviewed in cassation in the course of the review of the evidence. The State party stresses that due account must be taken of this indisputable development in the remedy of cassation in Spain, to the point where it now allows a detailed and extensive scrutiny of facts that were deemed proven in the lower court. In support of its arguments, the State party also cites a judgement of the European Court of Human Rights dated 19 February 2002, which, in ruling on a complaint by a Spanish national concerning the alleged lack of a right to a second hearing, found that the Spanish cassation process was compatible with articles 6, paragraph 1, and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights.1 (c) Scope of the review in the author’s case 7.6 The State party argues that it is necessary to examine the circumstances surrounding the review in cassation carried out specifically in the author’s case. In the State party’s view, unlike what happened in the Gómez Vázquez case, the Supreme Court reviewed matters of fact and of evidence on the eight occasions on which the author invoked factual errors in the evaluation of the evidence or violations of the presumption of innocence. In this regard, the State 1 European Court of Human Rights, case No. 65892/01, Ramos Ruiz v. Spain, decision adopted on 19 February 2002.