NEUMEISTER v. AUSTRIA JUDGMENT 35 increased both the severity of the sentence to be expected in the event of his conviction and the amount of loss for which he could be held responsible that they must have given him a considerable temptation to abscond and thereby evade this two-fold - civil and criminal - liability. The first Austrian decisions found confirmation of this danger of flight in the fact that Neumeister was said to have continued the preparations for his trip to Finland after becoming aware of the worsening of his position and after being informed by the Investigating Judge that permission for the journey had been refused. 10. The Court finds it understandable that the Austrian judicial authorities considered the danger of flight as having been much increased in July 1962 by the greater gravity of the criminal and civil penalties which Rafael’s new statements must have caused Neumeister to fear. The danger of flight cannot, however, be evaluated solely on the basis of such considerations. Other factors, especially those relating to the character of the person involved, his morals, his home, his occupation, his assets, his family ties and all kinds of links with the country in which he is being prosecuted may either confirm the existence of a danger of flight or make it appear so small that it cannot justify detention pending trial. It should also be borne in mind that the danger of flight necessarily decreases as the time spent in detention passes by for the probability that the length of detention on remand will be deducted from the period of imprisonment which the person concerned may expect if convicted, is likely to make the prospect seem less awesome to him and reduce his temptation to flee. 11. In the present case, Neumeister’s counter-arguments against the reasons given by the Austrian judicial authorities in justification of his provisional detention have been summarised above (statement of the the facts, paras 13, 14, 16 and 18). The Applicant referred, both in his appeals and also before the Commission, to various circumstances relating to his settled position in Vienna, which were such as to combat any temptation for him to flee. His explanations of the alleged continuation of his preparations for his journey to Finland are confirmed by a study of the documents on the file and were not contradicted by the Investigating Judge in the course of his examination by the Commission (statement of the facts, paras 11, 12 and 14). The Investigating Judge also admitted before the Commission that he personally did not believe that Neumeister intended to abscond in order to avoid appearing at his trial (statement of the facts, para. 11). Such a statement from a judge who, in the course of the long investigation conducted since 1959, must have become well acquainted with the Applicant is certainly not without importance. 12. The Court is of the opinion that in these circumstances the danger that Neumeister would avoid appearing at the trial by absconding was, in