Chapter 7 • The Right to a Fair Trial: Part II – From Trial to Final Judgement It followed that article 6(3)(d) taken together with article 6(1) of the European Convention had been violated in this case. Testimony of anonymous victims and witnesses during trial is unlawful, but can in exceptional cases be used in the course of criminal investigations. The identity of anonymous victims and witnesses must be disclosed in sufficient time prior to the beginning of the court proceedings to ensure a fair trial. 3.9 The right to free assistance of an interpreter According to article 14(3)(f) of the Covenant and article 6(3)(e) of the European Convention, everyone shall be entitled to “have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court”. Article 8(2)(a) of the American Convention guarantees “the right of the accused to be assisted without charge by a translator or interpreter, if he does not understand or does not speak the language of the tribunal or court”. Articles 20(4)(f) and 21(4)(f) of the respective Statutes of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia also provide for the right to “free assistance of an interpreter” of an accused not understanding or speaking the language of these Tribunals. ***** In the words of the Human Rights Committee, the free assistance of an interpreter is a right that is “of basic importance in cases in which ignorance of the language used by a court or difficulty in understanding may constitute a major obstacle to the right of defence” and it is moreover a right that “is independent of the outcome of the proceedings and applies to aliens as well as to nationals”.171 However, the services of an interpreter must be available only “if the accused or the defence witnesses have difficulties in understanding, or in expressing themselves in the court language”.172 It is not a violation of article 14 that the States parties make provision for the use of only one official court language, and the requirement of a fair hearing does not “mandate States parties to make available to a citizen whose mother tongue differs from the official court language, the services of an interpreter, if this citizen is capable of expressing himself adequately in the official language”.173 It follows that neither the right to a fair trial in article 14 nor article 14(3)(f) had been violated where a French citizen of Breton mother tongue, but who also spoke French, was refused the services of an interpreter during court proceedings against him in France. In this case, the author had “not shown that he, or the witnesses called on his behalf, were unable to address the tribunal in simple but adequate French”.174 The 171 General Comment No. 13 (Article 14), in United Nations Compilation of General Comments, p. 125, para. 13. 172 Communication No. 219/1986, D. Guesdon v. France (Views adopted on 25 July 1990), in UN doc. GAOR, A/45/40 (vol. II), p. 67, para. 10.2. 173 Ibid., loc. cit. 174 Ibid., para. 10.3. Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 291