PANYIK v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
7
involving the applicant was their daily work relationship (see paragraph 9).
This situation had not changed since then and the applicant was at the
material time still working as a lawyer in that region. While the Court does
not consider that the existence of a work relationship between a judge and a
lawyer practising in the court concerned necessarily entails a lack of
impartiality on the part of the former, the decisive factor in the present case
is the fact that Dr V. had previously withdrawn on that very ground, which
still pertained when he later participated in the decision to dismiss the
applicant’s appeal. Therefore, the Court finds that no sufficient guarantees
were provided to exclude legitimate doubt as to his impartiality towards the
applicant. For the Court, this is so despite the fact that the neutrality of the
remaining two judges in the panel has not been called into question, because
the doubt as to bias on the side of the president of the panel casts doubt on
the impartiality of the whole panel.
32. The applicant’s fear of the Regional Court’s lack of impartiality was
even more aggravated by the fact that two out of three judges deciding on
his second motion for bias against Dr V. had previously declared
themselves biased (see paragraphs 8 and 9 above).
33. The Court therefore observes that, on the facts of the case, the
impartiality of the Regional Court was capable of appearing open to doubt.
The applicant’s fears in this respect can thus be considered to have been
objectively justified and the Regional Court accordingly failed to meet the
required Convention standard under the objective test.
34. The Court thus concludes that there has been a violation of
Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.
II. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
35. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols
thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only
partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to
the injured party.”
A. Damage
36. The applicant claimed HUF 1,000,000 (approximately 3,800 euros
(EUR)) in respect of non-pecuniary damage.
37. The Government contested this claim.
38. The Court considers that the applicant must have suffered some nonpecuniary damage and awards him the full sum claimed.