The participation of the same judge in two proceedings renders the appeal procedure non-impartial.
JUDGMENT
Korzeniak v. Poland (no. 56134/08) 10.01.2017
SUMMARY
Fair trial. Unbiased court. Participation in the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court of Cassation, which conducted the same case at the Court of Appeal renders the trial unfair in its particular expression of the non-impartiality of the Supreme Court of Cassation due to the participation of that judge. Convicted for violating Article 6 (1) of the ECHR.
USE
A magistrate can not take part in a higher court, who had already dealt with the case at a lower level. The last trial is non-impartial and the right to a fair trial has been violated
PROVISION
Article 6 par. 1
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Stanisław Korzeniak, is a Polish national who was born in 1953 and lives in Krosno (Poland).
In the late 1990s, Mr Korzeniak carried out construction work for a Polish company in Germany. In July 1999, he lodged a civil claim against his former employer, claiming that he should have been paid a higher hourly rate for his work. For almost nine years, the proceedings passed between multiple levels of the Polish court system, until the final judgment was given by the Supreme Court on 14 May 2008. Mr Korzeniak was only partially successful in his claim.
Relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time) of the European Convention, Mr Korzeniak complained in particular that the Supreme Court that heard the final appeal had not been impartial, on the grounds that one of the judges hearing the case had already passed judgment in the proceedings at an earlier stage, when he had been sitting in the Court of Appeal (prior to that judge’s promotion to the Supreme Court).
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Violation of Article 6 § 1 (impartial tribunal)
Just satisfaction: 3,300 euros (EUR) (non-pecuniary damage) steroide anabolisant effet secondaire
