Rätt till rättvis rättegång - Om anonyma vittnen och uteblivna förhör

Sammanfattning: Article 6 in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), the right to a fair trial, is one of the most important and central substantive rights, especially when it comes to the application of national criminal law. The purpose of this thesis is to account for the regulation concerning anonymous witnesses in the context of ECHR and the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure (RB) and subsequently compare the two legal systems. I will also try to determine the direction of the judiciary development regarding the allowance of anonymous witnesses and examine the extent to which a defendant has the right to interrogate informants who have added information of relevance for the outcome of the case. This will be done through an explicit account of relevant law, judicial decisions and doctrine from both Swedish and European sources. A basic similarity between ECHR and RB is that they’re both based on a trial characterized by oral presentations. Anonymous witnesses and recital of what an absent informant have previously said should preferably not occur. However, there are situations when such measures can be accepted. When the victim or witnesses, for some reason, can’t take part in the trial, recitals of what has earlier been stated may be admitted as evidence. The procedure is compatible with ECHR as long as the recitals don’t constitute the main evidence of the case. The same goes for anonymous witnesses; a conviction may not be based solely on an anonymous testimony. Such testimony has, however, been accepted by the European Court of Human Rights when witnesses have been afraid of unpleasant repercussions. This doesn’t necessarily require the existence of an impending threat. Thus, we see a development where the witnesses’ interests are widely prioritized.