Chapter 6 • The Right to a Fair Trial: Part I – From Investigation to Trial executed following a trial before a court that was not independent as required by article 26 of the Charter.14 ***** The right to presumption of innocence in article 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights has been held to constitute “one of the elements of a fair criminal trial that is required by paragraph 1” of that article, and is a right which, like other rights contained in the Convention, “must be interpreted in such a way as to guarantee rights which are practical and effective as opposed to theoretical and illusory”.15 The presumption of innocence will thus be violated, for instance, “if a judicial decision concerning a person charged with a criminal offence reflects an opinion that he is guilty before he has been proved guilty according to law”, and it is sufficient, “even in the absence of any formal finding, that there is some reasoning suggesting that the court regards the accused as guilty”.16 Adverse public comments by authorities: The case of Allenet de Ribemont The “presumption of innocence may be infringed not only by a judge or court but also by other public authorities”.17 In the case of Allenet de Ribemont, the applicant had just been arrested by the police, when a press conference was held implicating him in the murder of a French Member of Parliament. The press conference, which in principle concerned the French police budget for the coming years, was attended by the Minister of the Interior, the Director of the Paris Criminal Investigation Department, and the Head of the Crime Squad. The applicant himself had at this stage not yet been charged with any crime. The European Court found a violation of article 6(2) in this case, noting that “some of the highest-ranking officers in the French police referred to Mr Allenet de Ribemont, without any qualification or reservation, as one of the instigators of a murder and thus an accomplice in that murder”. In the view of the Court this “was clearly a declaration of the applicant’s guilt which, firstly, encouraged the public to believe him guilty and, secondly, prejudged the assessment of the facts by the competent judicial authority”.18 14 ACHPR, International Pen and Others (on behalf of Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr. and Civil Liberties Organisations) v. Nigeria, Communications Nos. 137/94, 139/94, 154/96 and 161/97, decision adopted on 31 October 1998, paras. 94-96 of the text of the decision as published at the following web site: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/comcases/137-94_139-94_154-96_161-97.html. 15 Eur. Court HR, Case of Allenet de Ribemont v. France, judgment of 10 February 1995, Series A, No. 308, p. 16, para. 35; emphasis added. 16 Ibid., loc. cit. 17 Ibid., p. 16, para. 36. 18 Ibid., p. 17, para. 41. Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 221