Case No. IT-99-36-T
Before: Judge Carmel Agius, Presiding
Judge Ivana Janu
Judge Chikako Taya
Registrar:
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Decision of: 3 October 2003
PROSECUTOR
v.
RADOSLAV BRDJANIN
_________________________________
DECISION ON THE DEFENCE “OBJECTION TO INTERCEPT EVIDENCE”
_________________________________
The Office of the Prosecutor:
Ms. Joanna Korner
Counsel for the Accused:
Mr. John Ackerman
Mr. David Cunningham
TRIAL CHAMBER II (“Trial Chamber”) of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 (“International Tribunal”) is seised of an “Objection to Intercept Evidence” (“Objection”) and a “Supplemented Objection to Intercept Evidence” (“Supplemental Objection”), filed by the Defence on 3 July 2003 and 18 July 2003 respectively, objecting to the admission of evidence obtained through the allegedly illegal interception of telephone conversations.
1. The intercepts are not reliable since only one transcript, Prosecution Exhibit (“P”) 2386, has been corroborated by a witness, BT99, with personal knowledge of what was said. The Compact Disks produced are incomplete, the same documents have different dates, and uninteresting matters have been omitted when transferring cassette tape intercepts to reel-to-reel storage tapes.14
2. The reel-to-reel storage tapes were in the unsupervised possession of someone for more than ten years and there are no logs or methods of keeping the reel-to-reels. The original recording cassettes were erased. Recordings were so unreliable that they were not admissible in criminal proceedings in BiH.15
3. The purported authority to conduct the intercept was invalid in that it did not contain the identity of the person to be subject to surveillance. The Presidency of the Republic of BiH was not notified of the proposed surveillance.16
1. The intercepts were authorised by the Minister of Internal Affairs of the SRBH in accordance with statutory framework then in force;
2. The statutory framework was itself in accordance with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (“SFRY”) Constitution and the BiH Law on Internal Affairs;
3. International Tribunal Rules providing for exclusion of evidence have not been satisfied;
4. Admissibility under domestic law does not determine whether evidence should be excluded under Rule 95 of the Rules;
5. Jurisprudence regarding Article 8 of the ECHR does not support the contention that illegally intercepted evidence should be excluded;
6. The Accused had no expectation of privacy when speaking on lines he knew to be intercepted;
7. Wartime intercepts are not subject to exclusion under Rules 89 and 95; and
8. Illegally obtained intercepts should be admitted in cases involving serious violations of international humanitarian law.
1. Illegal intercepts should be admitted in cases concerning serious violations of international humanitarian law since it would “constitute a dangerous obstacle to the administration of justice if evidence which is relevant and of probative value could not be admitted merely because of a minor breach of procedural rules which the Trial Chamber is not bound to apply.”28 Furthermore, applying such an exclusionary rule29 as proposed by the Defence punishes countries with high standards for admission of intercept evidence, and rewards countries where the standards are lax.30
2. Intercepts of high-level individuals are prevalent throughout the world. Excluding the admission of such intercepts will in no way hinder, prevent or discourage intercepts from being taken. Exclusion would, therefore, only deny the court probative evidence.31
1. 1990: Article 39 of the BiH Law on Internal Affairs (Final Revised Edition) authorises the Secretary of the Republic, when essential for the conduct of criminal proceedings or for the security of the country and in keeping with the law, to suspend the principle that the confidentiality of communications is inviolable. According to the same Article, the Secretary of the Republic is also required to inform the Presidency of the SRBH of the measures undertaken.
2. 31 July 1990: The Constitution of the Republic of BiH was amended to increase the scope of the right of privacy in the Republic.32 There was a one year period in which “harmonisation” of any laws which were repugnant to the amendment was to be effected.33
3. 8 April 1991: Proposal from Under-Secretary of State Security Service (“SDB”) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the SRBH proposing technical measures against “Zoran” (Radovan Karadzic) due to alleged anti-constitutional activities, to wit : “advocacy of the forming of paramilitary armed formations and mass illegal arming of citizens”34. This document also contains a corresponding authorisation which is signed by Alija Delimustafic, Minister of the Interior and which was valid for one year.35
4. 31 July 1991: Deadline for harmonization between Article 39 of the BiH Law on Internal Affairs and Amendment LXIX.
5. 23 August 1991: Proposal from the Under-Secretary of SDB suggesting technical measures against “Latas” (also Radovan Karadzic) was made to the Minister of Internal Affairs. This request was based on “a number of interesting security contacts... encouraging, co-ordinating and directing activities regarding forming of paramilitary units” and encouragement of “terrorist activities by the Serbian Chetnik Movement (“SCP”)...” amongst other allegations. The request was granted and signed by Alija Delimustafic, Minister of the Interior and was valid for one year.36
6. 23 December 1991: The Official Gazette of BiH, No. 37 under “Regulations Regarding Conduct of Meetings of the Presidency” (Unofficial Translation attached to Accused’s Supplemental Objection as Exhibit D) require the notification and approval of the Presidency for all matters under its jurisdiction including state security.37
1. Firstly, the law itself may specifically provide for the automatic exclusion of any evidence which has been illegally or otherwise inappropriately obtained;
2. Secondly, the issue of exclusion or admission of such evidence may be left as a matter for the discretion of the judge who has the judicial duty to ensure fairness to the accused;
3. Thirdly, the courts might concern themselves only with the quality of the evidence and not consider its provenance at all; in other words the courts would only seek to find out if the evidence is relevant, reliable and having probative value irrespective of questions whether that evidence was obtained lawfully or unlawfully.
1. Under English law the overriding rule is that the judge has a discretion to exclude admissible evidence tendered by the Crown where its prejudicial effect outweighs its probative value.43 In Noor Mohamed v. R. ((1949) A.C. 182, 192) Lord du Parcq delivered the opinion of the Privy Council with the following words:
In all such cases the judge ought to consider whether the evidence is sufficiently substantial, having regard to the purpose to which it is professedly directed, to make it desirable in the interests of justice that it should be admitted. If, so far as that purpose is concerned, it can in the circumstances have only trifling weight, the judge will be right to exclude it. To say this is not to confuse weight with admissibility. The distinction is plain, but cases must occur in which it would be unjust to admit evidence of a character gravely prejudicial to the accused even though there may be some tenuous ground for holding it technically admissible.
2. If the evidence in question was relevant, it was admissible nothwithstanding its provenance. However, Judges still retained the discretion to exclude illegally or unfairly obtained evidence in certain rare circumstances.44 Shortly afterwards, in Sang (1980) A.C. 402; (1979) 2 All E.R., 1222, the House of Lords reduced the scope of this judicial discretion still further. The effect of that judgment is that judicial discretion at common law is limited to ensuring that the probative value and therefore weight of the evidence in question sufficiently outweighs any prejudicial effect and to excluding tainted evidence that has been obtained unfairly. The function of the judge is to ensure that the accused has a fair trial and it is not the business or the function of the judge to exercise disciplinary powers over the police or the prosecution. In terms of the Sang judgment, the House of Lords showed willingness to exclude the product of illegal interrogations of the accused in this way protecting the accused’s right of silence but was not ready to exclude the product of illegal searches in order to protect his or her right to privacy.
3. This kind of judicial discretion was eventually dealt with and somewhat limited, albeit in broad terms, by the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (ss 25 and 26) and more significantly by section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 which in its first paragraph provides that “In any proceedings the court may refuse to allow evidence on which the prosecution proposes to rely to be given if it appears to the court that, having regard to all the circumstances, including the circumstances in which the evidence was obtained, the admission of the evidence would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it.”
4. In Khan, the Court of Appeal gave firm approval for bugging as a technique used in targeting known offences, even where this involved trespass. The test for admissibility is relevance and the product of this kind of activity is admissible if relevant. In other cases, there may well be more compelling considerations such as of invasion of privacy or even of tort through, for example, trespass and of criminal damage. But such considerations must be weighed against the probative value of the evidence.45
5. In addition, as a result of the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights into domestic law, English case-law has been further brought into line with the standards established by the European Court of Human Rights, discussed in paragraphs 42 to 52 infra.46
While Article 6 […] of the Convention guarantees the right to a fair trial, it does not lay down any rules on the admissibility of evidence as such, which is therefore primarily a matter for regulation under national law. The court therefore cannot exclude as a matter of principle and in the abstract that unlawfully obtained evidence of the present kind may be admissible.
Although the assessment of the seriousness of the human rights violations depends on the circumstances of each case and cannot be made in abstracto, certain human rights violations are of such a serious nature that they require that the exercise of jurisdiction be declined. It would be inappropriate for a court of law to try the victims of these abuses. Apart from such exceptional cases, however, the remedy of setting aside jurisdiction will, in the Appeals Chamber’s view, usually be disproportionate. The correct balance must therefore be maintained between the fundamental rights of the accused and the essential interests of the international community in the prosecution of persons charged with serious violations of international humanitarian law.
1. A formal request to conduct interceptions was made and approved.72 Thus, the intercepts were carried out in “good faith”.
2. Although notification to the Presidency cannot be established73 the high level target and need for secrecy, as well as the potentially catastrophic events at which the intercepts were targeted, lead this Trial Chamber to conclude that under these circumstances, it was neither practical nor possible to notify the Presidency of the intercepts. It would not have made any sense at all to notify the entire Presidency when this would have undoubtedly thwarted the attempt to establish what was going on and neutralised the whole raison d’être of the proposed exercise. In any case, there is nothing to indicate that notice to the Presidency was required ad validitatem when these two authorisations were issued.
3. There is enough evidence to prove on a prima facie basis that the country was, at the time, on the brink of armed conflict and the purpose of the proposed interceptions was to uncover the extent or the suspected extent of the threat to the internal security of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, the utility of such interceptions at that time cannot be underestimated.
4. There is a prima facie indication from some of the transcripts themselves that the accused believed that his telephone was bugged and that this did not stop him from telephoning, for example, Radovan Karad‘ic. In addition, neither of them was in custody or coerced or entrapped into engaging into the telephone conversations that the Prosecution alleges to have taken place.
5. There is no indication that the intercepted evidence could have been available through any other source.
6. In direct response to a similar argument in Kordic, namely that a proferred intercepted communication would be inadmissible under the existing law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Judge Robinson specifically emphasized that, “Its inadmissibility under Bosnian law wouldn’t necessarily make it inadmissible in these proceedings”.74
7. This Trial Chamber agrees with the dictum of the Trial Chamber in Delalic, namely that “The Trial Chamber is of the opinion that it would constitute a dangerous obstacle to the administration of justice if evidence which is relevant and of probative value could not be admitted merely because of a minor breach of procedural rules which the Trial Chamber is not bound to apply.75 This Tribunal has a mandate to bring to justice persons allegedly responsible for serious violations of international law, to render justice to the victims, to deter further similar crimes and to contribute to the restoration of peace by promoting reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia. This mandate imposes on this Tribunal a tremendously heavy burden which it needs to carry in an efficient and successful manner. In the light of this responsibility under the Statute towards the international community and considering the seriousness of the crimes that this Tribunal is entrusted to adjudicate, it would be utterly inappropriate to exclude relevant evidence due to procedural considerations, as long as the fairness of the trial is guaranteed.
8. This Trial Chamber believes that in the light of the gravity of the charges brought against the accused and the jurisdiction that this Tribunal has to adjudicate serious violations of international law, intercepted evidence, even where obtained in a pre-armed conflict period in violation of the applicable domestic law, should be admitted in evidence. The Trial Chamber also believes that in a situation identical to the one existing in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time these intercepts were made, that is, at a time when the nation was on the brink of armed conflict, the principle which should apply is that mentioned earlier, namely that such intercepts would not be per se subject to exclusion under Rule 95.
9. Domestic exclusionary rules are based, in part, on the principle of discouraging and punishing over-reaching law enforcement. The Trial Chamber does not think for a moment that by taking a different approach to the one it is taking, it would in any event discourage the use of interception of communications in times of crisis or in time of armed conflict. By excluding what would appear to be on a prima facie basis relevant and important evidence, it would only be denying itself the possibility of having available evidence which would be otherwise difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. The function of this Tribunal is not to deter and punish illegal conduct by domestic law enforcement authorities by excluding illegally obtained evidence. At the same time, this Trial Chamber wishes to state that should the intercepts in question have been obtained illegally, their admission into evidence does not mean, and should not in any way be interpreted, as implying approval by this Tribunal of the way in which they were obtained. This is also in line with what Judge May noted in Kordic namely that “It’s not the duty of this Tribunal to discipline armies or anything of that sort. Its duty is to determine whether the accused is guilty or not… I’m not accepting that we are approving or disapproving the conduct. All we are deciding is whether this evidence is admissible under Rule 95.”76
10. The Prosecution in the present case is accusing Brdanin of direct involvement and participation in a joint criminal enterprise with amongst others Radovan Karadzic and with criminal responsibility under both Article 7 (1) and 7 (3) of the Statute. Against this backdrop and considering that there is the allegation that the Accused was a leading public political figure and that he engaged in telephone conversations with amongst others Radovan Karadzic, the relevance and importance of the intercepts in question is indisputable.
1. On 15 February 2002, this Trial Chamber issued an Order on the Standards Governing the Admissibility of Evidence in this trial77. That Order on Standards notes the approach adopted by the Rules as one in favour of admissibility78. It also notes that a “Trial Chamber shall not be bound by national rules of evidence whether representing the common law or civil law”79 and that “legal admissibility” is distinct from the weight that the evidence is given.
2. Also noted in the Order on Standards is the following language: “statements, which are not voluntary but are obtained from suspects by oppressive conduct, cannot pass the test under Rule 95 of the Rules.”80
3. Noting the “overriding principle in matters of admissibility of evidence” which places the Trial Chamber in the position of “guardian and guarantor of the procedural and substantive rights of the accused” and acknowledging its delicate task of balancing an accused’s rights against the rights of victims and witnesses, it is this International Tribunal’s “inherent right and duty to insure that evidence which qualifies for admission under the Rules will be admitted.”81
PURSUANT to the foregoing discussion,
TRIAL CHAMBER II HEREBY
REJECTS the Objection and Supplemental Objection. The proposed evidence will be admitted in accordance with the previous guidelines established in the Order on Standards dated 15 February 2002 and as further elaborated in this decision.
Done in French and English, the English version being authoritative.
Dated this 3rd day of October 2003,
At The Hague
The Netherlands
______________
Carmel Agius
Presiding Judge
[Seal of the Tribunal]
- Exhibit A is a document in which the Under-Secretary of the SDB on 8 April 1991 proposes technical measures against “Zoran” for reasons set out therein. The authorisation which follows is signed by Alija Delimustafic, BiH Minister of the Interior.
- Exhibit B is a similar document dated 23 August 1991 requesting that the SDB be allowed to implement measures against “Latas” (the same person as “Zoran”, but with a new code name).
- Exhibit C was provided to the Defence by the Prosecution and is a copy of an excerpt from the BiH Law on the Foundations of the System of State Security and
- Exhibit D is an excerpt from the BiH Law on Internal Affairs.
The Supplemental Objection also contains four exhibits which
are outlined in extenso in footnote 13 q.v.
2 - Objection, Paragraph 6.
3 - The Defence included this excerpt from the amended Constitution
(Amendment LXIX):
...
3. A man’s privacy is inviolable
4. Once [sic] can prescribe only by means of a law that, solely on the basis
of the Court’s decision, one may deviate from the principle of inviolability
of the secrecy of letters and other means of communication, it is necessary
for conducting of criminal proceedings or for the security of the country.
4 - Objection, Paragraph 9.
5 - Objection, Exhibits A and B.
6 - The Minister of the Interior, at the time the intercepts
were made, was Alija Delimustafic.
7 - Objection, Paragraph 13.
8 - Article 17 of the ICCPR states:
1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
9 - Article 8 of the ECHR states:
1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
10 - Rule 89 states, in the pertinent part:
(C) A Chamber may admit any relevant evidence which it deems to have probative value
(D) A Chamber may exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the need to ensure a fair trial.
11 - Rule 95 of the Rules states:
No evidence shall be admissible if obtained by methods which cast substantial doubt on its reliability or if its admission is antithetical to, or would seriously damage, the integrity of the proceedings.
12 - The Supplemental Objection also refers
to the following additional provisions of international law: ECHR Article 6
(vide footnote 27 infra) and Article 13.
13 - Exhibit A accompanying the Supplemental Objection is
a letter from Srdjan Arnaut, the General Secretary, indicating that there is
no record of any notification to the Presidency relating to wiretap authorisation
for Momcilo Krajisnik and others from June 1, 1991 to April 6, 1992. Exhibit
B accompanying the Supplemental Objection is an excerpt from Constitutions
of the Countries of the World edited by Albert P. Blaustein & Gisbert H.
Flanz citing Article 185 of the Yugoslavia Constitution which provides that:
Secrecy of mail and of other means of communication shall be inviolable. Provisions to depart from the principle of inviolability of secrecy of mail and of other means of communication, pursuant to an order by a competent authority, may only be made by statute if this is indispensable for the conduct of criminal proceedings or for the security of the country.
Exhibit C accompanying the Supplemental Objection is an unofficial translation of the Law on Internal affairs. It states:
If necessary for criminal prosecution or for the security of the country, the Republic Prosecutor or the Minister may make a proposal (to deviate from the principle of secrecy) and the Supreme Court of the Republic can issue findings regarding the subject persons. Based on those findings there can be an exception permitting deviation from the principle of the secrecy of letters/other communications. The decision shall be made by the President of the Supreme Court of the Republic or the judge he delegates, and shall be issued within 24 hours after the Prosecutor or the Minister submits his written proposal (to infringe on secrecy.) Based on the judge’s decision the Minister shall decide the type of measure, the measures and the time period of the violation of inviolability of secrecy of letters/communication. The information involved in the decision making process is confidential.
Exhibit D accompanying the Supplemental Objection is an excerpt from the BiH Official Gazette No. 37, Dec 23 1991, (unofficial translation) which states:
Article 12: All the members of the Presidency have to be informed of all matters under the jurisdiction of the Presidency.
Article 41: Minutes of the sessions of the Presidency must be delivered to all the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and to the member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia from Bosnia and to the President of the Bosnian Assembly.
Article 46: At least 5 members of the Presidency must vote for any decision of the Presidency in cases... (3) Questions of implementation of government policy in the area of... state security... at least 5 votes are needed to enact measures to implement the policy of state security.
Article 52: The Presidency gives direction to all departments concerned with state security, directing their activity in this area.
14 - Transcript page (“T”) 19761.
15 - T 19762.
16 - T 19764.
17 - Published in the SFRY Official Gazette No. 15/84; entered
into force on 7 April 1984.
18 - SRBH Official Gazette, 29 June 1990.
19 - Vide footnote 13 supra, under “Exhibit
B” attached to the Accused’s Supplemental Objection.
20 - Article 39 states:
If it is essential for the conduct of criminal proceedings or for the security of the country, the Secretary of the Republic may, in keeping with the law, determine by decision that certain measures be undertaken with regard to individual persons, organisations of associated labour and other self-managed organisations and associations, whereby the principle shall be suspended that the confidentiality of written and other communications is inviolable. The Secretary of the Republic shall inform the Presidency of the SRBH of the measures undertaken. (Press and Publishing Organisation, Official Gazette of the SR/Socialist Republic of BiH Sarajevo 1990, attached to the Objection as Exhibit D - Translation numbers 03079267 – 03079269)
21 - On 23 May 1991, Biljana Plavsic told
Radovan Karadzic that “Bosnia is sliding into a civil war” and that there was
a “major crisis” going on. Intercept 0207-8922-0207-8924 BCS ERN; 0305-5186-0305-5188
English ERN.
22 - Article 39 of the BiH Law of Internal Affairs and the
SRBH constitution. Vide footnote 20 supra.
23 - The Prosecution refers to Judge May’s oral decision
delivered on 2 February 2000 in Prosecutor v. Kordic and Cerkez, IT-95-14/2-T
at T 13694 in which the Judge states that
[E]ven if the illegality was established [... ] [w]e have come to the conclusion that [...] evidence obtained by eavesdropping on an enemy’s telephone calls during the course of a war is certainly not within the conduct which is referred to in Rule 95. It’s not antithetical to and certainly would not seriously damage the integrity of the proceedings.
24 - Prosecutor v. Delalic et al.,
Decision on the Motion of the Prosecution for the Admissibility of Evidence,
Case No. IT-96-21-T, Tr. Ch., 19 Jan. 1998, para. 16; Prosecutor v. Delalic
et al., Decision on application of Zejnil Delalic for leave to appeal against
the decision of the Trial Chamber of 19 January 1998 for the admissibility of
evidence, case No. IT-96-21-AR73.2, App. Ch., 4 Mar. 1998.
25 - See Prosecutor v. Kordic & Cerkez, IT-95-14/2-T,
T 13670.
26 - Khan v. United Kingdom (2001) 31 EHRR 45 (“Khan”),
para. 40. P.G. and J.H. v. United Kingdom, Application No. 44787/98,
Judgement of 25 September 2001 (“J.H. and P.G.”), para. 81.
27 - Article 6(1) of the ECHR provides: In the determination
of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone
is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent
and impartial tribunal established by law.
28 - Prosecutor v. Delalic et. al., “Decision on the
Tendering of Prosecution Exhibits 104 – 108”, Case No. IT-96-21-T, 9 February
1998, at paras. 18-20.
29 - The exclusionary rule in the United States is based
on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which protects Americans against
unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials. It was first enunciated
in Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616 (1886) and later expanded in Weeks
v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914). Under this rule, evidence obtained
in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ordinarily
inadmissible in a criminal trial. In other jurisdictions, the exclusionary rule
prevents illegally or improperly obtained evidence from being admitted into
evidence at a criminal trial.
30 - Oral argument on motion made by Mr. Koumjian, 18 July
2003, T 19769.
31 - Id.
32 - Official Register of the SRBH, No. 21/90, July 31, 1990
33 - T 19764. Paragraph 11 of Prosecution’s Response provides
that:
The BiH law on Internal Affairs was last amended in 1989 and an expurgated version was published on 29 June 1990. Amendment LXIX came into force on 31 July 1990. The Constitutional Law on the Implementation of the Constitutional Amendments expressly provided (at article 15) for a one-year grace period for the harmonisation of any laws which were repugnant to Amendment LXIX.... Draft amendments were prepared in June 1991 but were not adopted. The country was at that time already in crisis...
34 - Objection, Exhibit A.
35 - Id.
36 - Objection, Exhibit B.
37 - Vide footnote 13 supra in part regarding
Exhibit D attached to the Supplemental Objection.
38 - Vide footnote 8 supra.
39 - Vide footnote 9 supra.
40 - Article 11 of the American Convention on Human Rights
states:
1. Everyone has the right to have his honor respected and his dignity recognized.
2. No one may be the object of arbitrary or abusive interference with his private life, his family, his home, or his correspondence, or of unlawful attacks on his honor or reputation.
3. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
41 - Vide Article 4 of the ICCPR,
Article 15 of the ECHR and Article 27 of the American Convention on Human Rights.
42 - The English position is being referred to in some detail
because it has been largely respected by the ECHR and also because the general
overriding rule the English courts apply is similar in concept to the principle
contained in Rule 89 of this Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
43 - This rule was first clearly enunciated in R. v. Christie
(1914) 10 Cr. App. R. 141, H.L.
44 - In Jeffery v. Black (1977) 3 W.L.R. 895; 121
S.J. 662; (1978) 1 All E.R. 555 Lord Widgery affirmed this principle saying
also that such a discretion was to be used rarely where there had been trickery,
oppression or unfairness.
45 - Regina v. Khan (Sultan) [1995] Q.B. 27 CA. This
case eventually was considered by the ECHR and reference to it is made below
when dealing with the decisions of that Court.
46 - See e.g.: R v Mason and others, 2002 EWCA Crim
385.
47 - As Mr Justice Holmes suggested in 1928 it is “ a less
evil that some criminals should escape than that the Government should play
an ignoble part”. Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928)(USSC+).
48 - James v. Illinois, 493 U.S. 307, referring to
Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222.
49 - Id.
50 - See Segura v. U.S, 468 U.S. 796 (1984).
51 - See Nix v. Williams, 467 U.S. 431 (1984).
52 - See U.S. v. Leon, 468 U.S. 431 (1984) and Mass.
v. Sheppard, 468 U.S. 981 (1984).
53 - In Germany, the exclusionary rule is found in the Strafprozessordnug,
(StPO) paragraph 136(a) and 252. Paragraph 136(a) excludes evidence improperly
obtained through hypnosis, sleep deprivation, mistreatment or other methods
used to overcome the will. Paragraph 252 excludes evidence voluntarily given
during investigation which is sought to be admitted at trial over the objections
of the witness who provided the pretrial evidence. There are other rules under
which one can obtain exclusion of evidence, but these other rules incorporate
the exclusionary rule by practice, not by reference.
In Italy, the exclusionary rule can be found in the Codice di Procedura Penale
under articles 188 and 191. Article 188 (Moral freedom of the person in the
admission of evidence) states: 1. Methods or techniques that may influence the
freedom of self-determination or may alter the ability to remember and evaluate
the facts may not be used, even if consented to by the interested person. Article
191 states: 1. Evidence gathered in violation of prohibitions set by law may
not be used; 2. The non-admissibility may be declared ex officio in every state
of the proceedings. It is noted that this prohibition is interpreted in a very
restrictive way; only prohibitions set out in the code of criminal procedure
(or other norms relevant to the proceedings) that explicitly ban the admission
of illegally-gathered evidence are considered.
In France, there is no single provision which amounts to an exclusionary rule.
The Constitutional Court ruled (in 1994) that the right of privacy was implicit
in the Constitution. Most of the protection from searches and seizures in France
come from rules of procedure; these French versions of exclusionary rules are
called "textual nullities." Article 59, for example, requires exclusion, or
"nullite," (nullity) of evidence procured wrongly in domicile searches. (C.
Pr. Pen. 109 & 110):
Sauf réclamation faite de l'intérieur de la maison ou exceptions prévues par la loi, les perquisitions et les visites domiciliaires ne peuvent être commencées avant 6 heures et après 21 heures. (L. no. 93-1013 du 2 août 1993) "Les formalités mentionnées aux articles 56, 56-1, 57 et au présent article sont prescrites à peine de nullité."
The French impose limits on identity checks (C. Pr. Pen. C.
art. 78-3) and electronic surveillance (C. Pr. Pen. art. 100-7) as well. The
French have other, lesser rules guiding criminal searches, such as a requirement
that most residential searches must be witnessed by a resident or by two persons
not subject to the administrative authority of the searching official. (This
rule is found in articles 56 and 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which
are governed by Article 59.) Unlike the one, broad rule of exclusion in the
United States, France relies on these more specific rules to guide the execution
of criminal investigations. C. Pr. Pen. C. art. 477 also addresses the admission
of evidence and calls for "liberte de la preuve" (liberal admission of proof)
except where specifically limited. Evidence subsequently obtained as a result
of illegal evidence is not necessarily excluded.
54 - Schenk v. Switzerland, 13 EHRR 242.
55 - “[C]ompliance with the law when obtaining evidence is
not an abstract or formalistic requirement. On the contrary, we consider that
it is of the first importance for the fairness of a criminal trial. No court
can, without detriment to the proper administration of justice, rely on evidence
which has been obtained not only by unfair means but, above all, unlawfully.
If it does so, the trial cannot be fair within the meaning of the Convention”.
56 - Saunders v. United Kingdom (1997) 23 EHRR 313.
57 - Teixeira v. Portugal (1999) 28 EHRR 101, para
35.
58 - Khan, vide footnote 26 supra.
59 - Disagreeing with the finding of the majority, Judge
Loucaides considered that the term “fairness”, when examined in the context
of the European Convention on Human Rights, implies observance of the rule of
law and for that matter it presupposes respect of the human rights set out in
the Convention. He felt that one cannot speak of a “fair” trial if it is conducted
in breach of the law. Furthermore, by refusing to censure the gathering of evidence
in this manner, the Court was offering encouragement to police officers to continue
gathering evidence without consideration for, and in breach of, the accused’s
rights. He urged that the exclusion of evidence obtained contrary to a Convention
right should be considered as “an essential corollary of the right”. Rejecting
the suggestion that the trial court’s discretionary power to exclude evidence
under s 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 provided the applicant
with sufficient guarantees, he noted that “under English law the concept of
“fairness” as regards the relevant test of admissibility of evidence, was never
incompatible with illegality”.
60 - P.G. and J.H.,vide footnote 26 supra.
61 - The complaint concerned the monitoring and recording
of conversations by means of a covert listening device which was placed in the
home of one of the applicants, the monitoring of calls made on the applicant’s
telephone and the use of listening devices to obtain voice samples while the
applicants were at a police station. The Court was asked to consider whether
these activities amounted to an interference with the applicants’ right to private
life. Further, the applicants complained that the non-disclosure of evidence
relating to the authorisation of the listening device; the hearing of oral evidence
by the judge in private; the use in evidence of information obtained from the
listening device at the applicant’s home, and the manner in which voice samples
were obtained amounted to a violation of article 6.
62 - The prosecution had called 45 witnesses and incriminating
evidence was found at the address of one of the applicant’s and in the car which
the applicants were driving.
63 - The requirement of fairness “presupposes compliance
with the law and thus also, a fortiori, respect for the rights guaranteed
by the Convention, which it is the Court’s very task to scrutinise”. Although
accepting that it is not generally the Court’s function to lay down rules of
admissibility, she was of the opinion that the position is different if evidence
is obtained in breach of a Convention right. In these circumstances “it is the
Court’s very duty, where the taking of evidence is concerned, to ensure that
the commitments entered into under the Convention are honoured by the Contracting
States”. Challenging the majority view that the Court was obliged to follow
the precedent established in Schenk and Khan, Judge Tulkens remarked
that the Court had missed an opportunity to settle Convention jurisprudence
on this issue. In her opinion the Court should have “reiterated clearly that
what is forbidden under one provision (Article 8) cannot be permitted under
another provision (Article 6)”. Vide footnote 26 supra P.G.
and J.H. v. United Kingdom, Partially dissenting opinion of Judge Tulkens,
para 1 - 4.
64 - Chinoy v. United Kingdom. Application No. 15199/89,
Judgment of 4 September 1991.
65 - Van Mechelen and Others v. The Netherlands (1998)
25 EHRR 647
66 - Vide footnotes 23 and 25 supra.
67 - See Objection, paras. 8-10 and Prosecution’s Response,
paras. 8–12.
68 - Vide para. 17 supra.
69 - Vide para. 30 supra.
70 - Id.
71 - Vide footnote 26 supra, Khan, para.
40.
72 - Exhibits A and B to Objection.
73 - Exhibit A to Supplemental Objection.
74 - Transcript, Prosecutor v. Kordic and Cerkez,
T 13670.
75 - Prosecutor v. Zejnil Delalic et al., IT-96-21-T,
“Decision On The Tendering Of Prosecution Exhibits 104 – 108”, 9 February 1998,
at pars. 18-20.
76 - Transcript, Prosecutor v. Kordic and Cerkez,
T 13671-T 13672.
77 - Order on the Standards Governing the Admissibility of
Evidence (“Order on Standards”), 15 February 2002, para. 6.
78 - Id. para. 11
79 - Id. para. 10.
80 - Id. para. 23.
81 - Id. para. 25.