CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE SAJÓ

I share the view of my colleagues that there has been no violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention. Irrespective of possible jurisprudential disagreements, it is uncontestable that the applicant (and his lawyer), despite having a statutory basis for requesting identification by video link (see § 72), made no such request. For the Court, this consideration came up as a problem of direct confrontation between a witness and the accused in court and is mooted as a possible handicap for the defence . Of course, equality of arms is a legitimate concern. However, it should be of equal importance for the fairness of a trial that the judge be granted the possibility of being confronted personally with the evidence and that the evidence be cross-examined in his presence. To my regret, the case law does not seem to pay sufficient attention to this aspect of fairness.