24
NEUMEISTER v. AUSTRIA JUDGMENT
refuses to provide the security demanded, especially if he is in no position
to do so: otherwise a Government could easily evade its obligations by
requiring excessive guarantees.
The Commission adds that the second part of the seventh criterion (the
conduct of the judicial authorities in completing the trial) is inapplicable
here in connection with Article 5 (3) (art. 5-3), since Neumeister was
released before the trial opened.
12. In the light of an overall evaluation of these various factors, the
Commission concludes, by eleven votes to one, that Article 5 (3) (art. 5-3)
has been violated. It does not state the exact date on which it considers the
violation to have begun: it thinks that its task was solely to give an opinion
on whether or not the period of Neumeister’s detention was reasonable.
13. In the Commission’s view, the problem of the "time" stipulated in
Article 6 (1) (art. 6-1) of the Convention is different from the problem under
Article 5 (3) (art. 5-3), for the relevance of the former Article does not
depend on the fact of detention.
In a criminal case the period in question is thought by the Commission to
date from the day on which the suspicion against a person begins to have
substantial repercussions on his situation. In the present case, the
Commission, by seven votes to five, has taken this to be the day of
Neumeister’s first interrogation by the Investigating Judge (21 January
1960) - not, for instance, the date on which the charge was preferred (17
March 1964).
The Commission furthermore considers, by nine votes to three, that the
"time" referred to in Article 6 (art. 6) does not end with the opening of the
trial or the hearing of the accused by the trial court (cf. the words
"entendue" and "hearing") but, at the very least, with the "determination" by
the court of first instance "of any criminal charge against him" ("... décidera
... du bien-fondé de toute accusation") - which has not yet come about in
this case. The Commission does not think it necessary in the present
instance to consider here whether this "time" would also include appeal
proceedings, if any.
For the purpose of determining whether a period of time is "reasonable"
the Commission considers that several of the criteria it applies in connection
with Article 5 (3) (art. 5-3) (the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and both parts of the
seventh) also have a bearing, mutatis mutandis, on Article 6 (1) (art. 6-1).
The Commission holds, in short, by six votes - including its President’s
casting vote - to six, that Neumeister was not heard within a reasonable time
and that Article 6 (1) (art. 6-1) has thus not been observed in this respect. It
does not attach great weight to the fact that Neumeister hardly complained
at all on this score: it believes that it is competent to consider any point of
law that seems to it to arise from the facts of an application, and if necessary
to do so in relation to an article of the Convention not expressly invoked by