Information Note on the Court’s case-law 61

February 2004

Perez v. France [GC] - 47287/99

Judgment 12.2.2004 [GC]

Article 6

Civil proceedings

Article 6-1

Civil rights and obligations

Applicability of Article 6 to civil party to criminal proceedings: Article 6 applicable

Facts : The application concerned criminal proceedings for assault which the applicant, who was the victim, joined as a civil party. The court dec ided that there was no case to answer.  The applicant appealed.  The Indictment Division dealing with the case ruled that her appeal was inadmissible because she had missed the legal deadline. The Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant’s appeal on poin ts of law.

Law : Article 6 § 1 – Applicability: The Court adopted a new approach to the applicability of Article 6 § 1 to civil-party proceedings. If the making of a civil-party complaint amounts to the same thing as making a civil claim for indemnification , it is immaterial that the victim may have failed to lodge a formal claim for compensation. In French law, Article 6 is applicable to proceedings involving civil-party complaints even during the preliminary investigation stage taken on its own and even, w here appropriate, if there are pending or potential proceedings in the civil courts. Where criminal proceedings are determinative only of a criminal charge, the decisive factor for the applicability of Article 6 § 1 is whether, from the moment when the app licant is joined as a civil party until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings, those proceedings affect the civil component. A fortiori, Article 6 must apply to proceedings relating both to the criminal charge and to the civil component of the case.

H owever, as the Convention does not confer any right to “private revenge” or to an actio popularis , the right to have third parties prosecuted or sentenced for a criminal offence cannot have an independent existence for the purposes of the Convention. Nonet heless, except in those cases, civil-party complaints come within the scope of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. Moreover, any waiver of the right to make a civil-party complaint, which is civil in nature, must be established in an unequivocal manner. In th is case, the applicant lodged a civil-party complaint during the criminal investigation, exercised her right to claim reparation for the damage caused by the offence of which she was allegedly the victim, and did not waive that right. The proceedings there fore came within the scope of Article 6.

The complaint was dismissed on its merits.

Conclusion : no violation (unanimously).

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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