DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE VALTICOS

(Translation)

My vote, the sole dissenting vote, expresses, if the truth be told, a general impression derived from considering the case as a whole. I can well understand that others may react or reason differently. For my part, independently of the appalling nature of the offence that led to the impugned proceedings, the continuing doubt as to how the public prosecutor’s file came to be lost in transit and as a consequence the confusion that marred the proceedings have finally led me to the same conclusion as that reached by the majority of the Commission, namely that the applicant did not have an entirely fair hearing.

[1] . This summary by the registry does not bind the Court.

[2] Notes by the Registrar

. The case is numbered 142/1996/761/962. 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.

[3] . Rules of Court A apply to all cases referred to the Court before the entry into force of Protocol No. 9 (1 October 1994) and thereafter only to cases concerning States not bound by that Protocol. They correspond to the Rules that came into force on 1 January 1983, as amended several times subsequently.

[4] . Note by the Registrar . For practical reasons this annex will appear only with the printed version of the judgment (in Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997), but a copy of the Commission’s report is obtainable from the registry.