Communicated on 5 December 2020 Published on 21 December 2020

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 63703/19 Pavel MUCHA against Slovakia lodged on 2 December 2019

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the applicant ’ s conviction of offences with an organised-crime background by a tribunal that previously convicted his accomplices on the basis of their confessions given in the context of plea ‑ bargain arrangements, while such convictions described the applicant ’ s role in the offences at stake in substantially the same terms as in his own subsequent conviction. It raises issues under Article 6 §§ 1 (impartiality) and 2 of the Convention.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES AND REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS

1. In the determination of the criminal charges against him, did the applicant have a hearing by an impartial tribunal, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?

In view of the fact that the bench trying the applicant previously convicted the co-perpetrators and of the wording and content of the judgments it gave on 19 December 2012 (case no. PK 1T 36/12) and 7 March 2013 (cases nos. PK 1T 2/13 and PK 1T 4/13) in their respect, was the trial court dealing with the applicant ’ s case impartial, as required by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (see Ferrantelli and Santangelo v. Italy , 7 August 1996, § 59, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996 ‑ III; Rojas Morales v. Italy , no. 39676/98, § 33, 16 November 2000; and, a contrario , Schwarzenberger v. Germany , no. 75737/01, §§ 43-5, 10 August 2006)?

2. Was the presumption of innocence, guaranteed by Article 6 § 2 of the Convention, respected in the present case?

In particular, in its judgments concerning the co-perpetrators, did the court make it sufficiently clear that it was not also implicitly determining the applicant ’ s guilt, so as to avoid, as far as possible, giving the impression that was prejudging it (see Karaman v. Germany , no. 17103/10, §§ 67 and 70, 27 February 2014; Bauras v. Lithuania , no. 56795/13, § 54, 31 October 2017; and also the application of the principles stemming from the Convention case-law in the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 5 September 2019, AH and Others (presumption of innocence) , C-377/18, § 45)?

The Government is asked to provide the Court with, inter alia , copies of the instruments of the plea bargains or any other elements that served as the basis for the judgments of 19 December 2012 and 7 March 2013.