005145
"Depending on the circumslances. a rea$onable apprehension
of bias might be
thoughttaariseinthefoilowingcases: ... {djlf thejudgehasexpressedviews.
particularly in the course of the hearing. on any question at issue in such strong
and unbaianced terms that they cast reasonable dcubts on the judge"s ability
to try the issue with an objeetive judicial mind. ."5
1. ln light of the foregorng, one is obliged to conclude that Judge Dotse,s staternents
in his individual opinion at the ordrnary Bench of the suprerne court gave rrse to a
1
perception oi partuality when he sat at the Review Beneh of the supreme court, and
that conseque*tly, in accordance with the general principles of law in judiciat matters,
the Judge should thereafter have refrained from sittrnE at the Review Bench. As noted
by the very Bangalore Prinuptes af Judicial Conduct:
"A judge shall di*qualify hinrself or herself from participating
in any proceedings
in which the judge is unable to decide the matter impartially or in which it may
appear to a reasonable observer that the judge is unable to decide the matter
irn
partially''6.
12 The fact that the Judge persisted in sitting, despite the risk of perception of bias.
must be regarded as a vrolation of the Applicant's right to be heard by an impadial
court, withi* the rneaning of Article 7i1) (d) of the charter, a violation attributable to
the Respondent State of which the court is an orean.
13. I am conscious that Judge Dotse's comments vrere made in a concurring opinion,
at least pa(ia[y favorable to the Applicant, but thls does not change the perception of
bias on his part, in as much as he accepted lo $ubsequently sit at the Review Bench
of the Supren're Cou( on the same case.
Ill. The issue of the impartiality of the Suprerne Court sitting as the Review
Bench
14. lt now remains to determine whether the fact that Judge Dotse was a member of
the Supreme Court Review Bench affected the lmpartiality af the ent,re Bench ln this
respect, the Court replies in the negative, relying mainly on the arguments (i) that the
1
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/blde,4], paragraph 90.
iory;olore Prinaplits ot' Judfia1 toftdrta-r, Anr,Er( ts th€ Resoiution of the UN Ecoaomic and Socii{ Counci},
ECOSOC:006133, ?7 July 3006, paragraph .:.5.
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