MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 21 responsibilities in the Borrel case and, in particular, the circumstances in which Bernard Borrel had met his death, but added that the dispute between the two States had originated in that case, as a result of the opening of a number of judicial proceedings, in France and in Djibouti, and the resort to bilateral treaty mechanisms for mutual assistance between the parties. The ICJ observed in particular that, although the subject of the dispute was described in Djibouti’s application as the transmission by the French authorities of the Borrel case file to Djibouti, taken as a whole the application had a wider scope, which included the summonses sent to the Djiboutian President and those sent to two other Djiboutian officials, together with the arrest warrants subsequently issued against the latter. 64. The ICJ found, in particular, that the decision by the French investigating judge to refuse the request for mutual assistance had been justified by the fact that the transmission of the Borrel case file was considered to be “contrary to the essential interests of France”, in that the file contained declassified “defence secret” documents, together with information and witness statements in respect of another case in progress. It took the view that those reasons fell within the scope of Article 2 (c) of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, which allowed a requested State to refuse to execute letters rogatory if it considered that such assistance would be likely to prejudice the sovereignty, the security, the ordre public or other essential interests of the nation. The ICJ further decided not to order the transmission of the Borrel file with certain pages removed, as Djibouti had requested in the alternative. It held, however, that France had failed in its obligation to give reasons for its refusal to execute the letter rogatory, while rejecting Djibouti’s other submissions concerning the summonses addressed to the President and the two other senior Djiboutian officials. THE LAW I. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION 65. The applicant claimed that, before the Court of Cassation, his case had not been examined fairly by an impartial tribunal, having regard to the presence on the bench of a judge who had previously and publicly expressed his support for one of the civil parties, Judge M. He relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, of which the relevant part reads as follows: “In the determination of ... any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”