including, inter alia, right to be informed promptly, and in detail of the nature
and cause of the accusations against him as well as the right to access all
relevant information pertaining to the accusation. The appropriate rights to be
triggered by any criminal charge depends on the nature of the charge and the
mode of trial anticipated. In the instant case, having regard to the nature of
impeachment trial, the minimum rights to be accorded the Applicant,
obviously involved the attendance and presence of the Applicant at the
impeachment proceedings where the allegations against him were to be
investigated and charges framed for the trial by the Senate. It is worth noting
that the evidence to be used against the Applicant at the trial by the Senate
was obtained and compiled at the impeachment stage before they were
presented to the Senate.
107.
In
the
9154/10
CASE
|
OF
SCHATSCHASCHWILI
JUDGMENT
(MERITS
V.
AND
GERMANY
JUST
SATISFACTION) | COURT (GRAND CHAMBER) | 15/12/2015, the
European Court of Human Rights dealing with how assessment of fairness of
a trial is to be done, held that:
“The Court’s primary concern under Article 6 § 1 is to evaluate the
overall fairness of the criminal proceedings. In making this assessment,
the Court will look at the proceedings as a whole, including the way in
which the evidence was obtained, having regard to the rights of the
defence”
108.
On the importance of the investigation stage in criminal trial, the Court
further held that:
42