6
CAN v. AUSTRIA JUGDMENT
will take account of the observations of the European Commission of Human Rights
in its report of 12 July 1984 in the present case."
The Government accordingly requested the Court, with Mr. Can’s
agreement (see paragraph 5 above), to strike the case out of the list pursuant
to Rule 48 para. 2 of the Rules of Court, which reads:
"When the Chamber is informed of a friendly settlement ..., it may, after consulting,
if necessary, ... the Delegates of the Commission ..., strike the case out of the list."
The Delegate of the Commission has been consulted and has raised no
objection (see paragraph 5 above).
The Permanent Representative of Austria to the Council of Europe has
also informed the registry that "as an initial step, the Austrian Federal
Government will communicate the contents of the Commission’s report of
12 July 1984 to all the Austrian courts, through their presidents, and to the
prosecution authorities" (see paragraph 5 above).
15. The Court takes formal note of the friendly settlement reached by
the Government and the applicant. The applicant regards the settlement as
being clearly in accordance with his own interests; nevertheless, the Court
must satisfy itself that there are no reasons of public policy (ordre public) of
a kind which would necessitate the continuation of the proceedings (Rule 48
para. 4).
16. In this connection, the Court recalls in the first place that in several
earlier cases it has determined issues analogous to that arising in the instant
case under Article 5 para. 3 (art. 5-3) of the Convention (see the following
judgments: Wemhoff, 27 June 1968; Neumeister, 27 June 1968; Stögmüller,
10 November 1969; Matznetter, 10 November 1969; Ringeisen, 16 July
1971 - Series A nos. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13, respectively). It has thereby clarified
the scope of the engagements undertaken by the Contracting States in this
area.
17. Exactly the same cannot be said of the second issue arising, namely
the supervision to which, on account of the danger of suppression of
evidence, consultations between a detained suspect and his lawyer are
subject in Austria (see paragraph 9 above). The Court was recently faced
with a somewhat similar problem, which it resolved by finding a violation
of Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1), but this concerned a convicted prisoner who
was serving his sentence in the United Kingdom and wished to institute
civil proceedings (see the Campbell and Fell judgment of 28 June 1984,
Series A no. 80, pp. 13-15, paras. 17-22, p. 25, para. 44 (d), and p. 49, paras.
111-113).
However, the Court’s case-law does already provide certain indications
as to the answer to the question - dealt with in paragraphs 45 to 50 of the
Commission’s report - whether and to what extent Article 6 para. 3 (art. 63), or a particular sub-paragraph thereof, is applicable at the stage of the
preliminary investigations (see, mutatis mutandis, the Engel and Others