DELCOURT v. BELGIUM JUDGMENT 14 On this last point, Belgian legislation may well appear at first sight to be "unusual" - to recall a term used by one of the representatives of the respondent Government - and it does not seem to have any equivalent today in the other member States of the Council of Europe, at least in criminal cases. It may be noted, moreover, that the Avocat général at the Court of Justice of the European Communities, even though there are analogies between his functions and those of the Procureur général at the Belgian Court of Cassation, does not take part in the deliberations. 31. The preceding considerations are of a certain importance which must not be underestimated. If one refers to the dictum "justice must not only be done; it must also be seen to be done" these considerations may allow doubts to arise about the satisfactory nature of the system in dispute. They do not, however, amount to proof of a violation of the right to a fair hearing. Looking behind appearances, the Court does not find the realities of the situation to be in any way in conflict with this right. 32. First, it is established that the Procureur général’s department at the Court of Cassation functions wholly independently of the Minister of Justice, save in the exceptional matters which are irrelevant to this case. Thus, the Minister has no power to compel the Procureur général to make his submissions one way or the other, while he has the power to direct the institution of prosecutions by the Procureur général’s departments attached to the courts of first instance and appeal. Furthermore, as has already been observed, the Procureur général at the Court of Cassation exercises supervision over the officers of the Procureur général’s departments at the courts of first instance and appeal only in regard to matters of doctrine and does not give them injunctions or instructions. Thus, he is not entitled to instigate, or prevent the institution of, a prosecution before the lower courts or to intervene at any stage in the conduct of a case already brought before them, or to order the Procureur général’s department at a court of appeal to lodge or withdraw an appeal in cassation. 33. Nor is the Procureur général at the Court of Cassation the virtual adversary of the accused whose conviction or acquittal may lead to an appeal in cassation; nor does he become their actual adversary when he submits in open court that their arguments should not be accepted. No doubt it is equally true that the officers of the Procureur général’s department at the courts of first instance and appeal do not have the character of public accusers; indeed, Article 4 of Section VIII of the Decree of 16th-24th August 1790 so states expressis verbis. They also are bound to serve the public interest in all objectivity and, in particular, to ensure the observance of the laws concerned with public order; and they are to be considered parties only within the formal procedural meaning of the term. Their task, however, is in no way to be confused in criminal matters with that of the Procureur général’s department at the Court of Cassation. Their task, in