DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE THOR VILHJALMSSON

To my regret, I am not able to agree with the Court ’ s finding of a violation of Article 6 (art. 6) of the Convention in this case.

The Court has once more been called upon to consider its role under the Convention as regards the question whether, in the circumstances, the rules on fair trial, as well as the rules on presentation of evidence, were respected. The taking and assessment of evidence fall primarily within the sphere of national legislatures and courts. In the Bricmont case our Court stated as follows: "It is normally for the national courts to decide whether it is necessary or advisable to call a witness. There are exceptional circumstances which could prompt the Court to conclude that the failure to hear a person as a witness was incompatible with Article 6 (art. 6) ..." (judgment of 7 July 1989 , Series A no. 158, p. 31, para. 89).

When the case of the applicant was remitted to the Brussels Court of Appeal, his defence counsel requested that four named persons, including Mr Scohy, should be called as witnesses. The reasons given by counsel in support of his request are set out in paragraph 19 of the present judgment. Mr Scohy had reported to the Deputy Director of the Namur prison that there were rumours circulating among the inmates in a certain wing of the prison that the applicant had in fact not supplied a revolver to a prisoner. Counsel argued that it was necessary for Mr Scohy to appear before the court. The purpose of calling the three other persons to give evidence is less clear.

In my opinion, it is not the proper role of our Court to assess whether it was necessary to call the above-mentioned persons to give evidence. I do not think that it is of relevance in this connection that the Brussels court gave no reasons for not hearing the four men or that it increased the sentence imposed on the applicant. I find no violation of Article 6 (art. 6) in this case.

[*]  The case is numbered 14/1991/266/337.  The first number is the case's position on the list of cases referred to the Court in the relevant year (second number).  The last two numbers indicate the case's position on the list of cases referred to the Court since its creation and on the list of the corresponding originating applications to the Commission.

[*]   As amended by Article 11 of Protocol No. 8 (P8-11), which came into force on 1 January 1990 .

[*]  Note by the Registrar: For practical reasons this annex will appear only with the printed version of the judgment (volume 235-B of Series A of the Publications of the Court), but a copy of the Commission's report is available from the registry.