004066 · 187. Refuting the Applicant's contentions, the Respondent State submits that the presumption of innocence is a "... Principle which implies that the accused person must be acquitted on the benefit of the doubt by the trial court where his guilt is not proven and that during the trial itself, the person must be held not guilty and respected as such". 188. The Respondent State submits that, while in police custody, the Applicant who was not regarded as a detainee or an indictee, remained at the disposal of the Maritime Gendarmerie Company of the Autonomous Port of Cotonou for the purposes of investigation; adding that he was never presented as perpetrator, coperpetrator of, or accomplice in, the offence of international high-risk drug trafficking and that his right to be presumed innocent has not been violated . *** 189. Article 7(1)(b) of the Charter provides that: "(1) Every individual shall have the right to have his cause heard. This comprises: (b) The right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a competent court or tribunal". 190. Presumption of innocence means that any person prosecuted for an offence is presumed , a priori, not to have committed it, so long as his guilt is not established by an irrevocable Judgment. It follows that the scope of the right to presumption of innocence embraces the entire procedure from the time of examination to the pronouncement of final judicial decision, and that violation of the presumption of a person's innocence "may be ascertained even in the absence of final conviction where the judicial decision concerning the person reflects the feeling that he is guilty"24. 191. In the instant case, the Applicant submits that his right to presumption of innocence was violated throughout the judicial process and also by the fact that his acquittal was based on the benefit of the doubt, and by the abusive appeal of the Attorney General. 24ECHR, Application No. 8660/79; Minelli v. Switzerland, Jud Serle A No. 62. I t of 25/03/1983 , §§ 27 and·37,