The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a judgment in the case of Baturov v. Ukraine concerning the violation of the right to a fair trial under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. The case involved a situation where the applicant was deprived of an opportunity to comment on an appeal lodged by the defendants in his case due to lack of proper notification.The Court emphasized three fundamental principles of a fair trial:
- The proceedings should be adversarial, meaning that all parties should be informed of proceedings initiated against them
- The principle of equality of arms requires that each party should have a reasonable opportunity to present their case
- Each party must have the opportunity to know about and comment on observations or evidence from the other party
The Court found that the domestic courts failed to ensure proper notification of the applicant about the appeal and did not attempt to verify whether the applicant was informed about it through other means. This violated the principle of equality of arms and constituted a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. As a result, the Court ordered Ukraine to pay the applicant 500 euros in damages.The decision builds upon previous case law, specifically referencing Strizhak v. Ukraine and Lazarenko and Others v. Ukraine, where similar violations were found. The Court emphasized that domestic courts have an obligation to ensure that their summonses and other documents reach parties sufficiently in advance and should record their findings in the judgment text.
