ACUZATUL, AVOCATUL ȘI JUDECĂTORUL, PARTICIPANȚI NECESARI LA PROCEDURA AUDIERII MARTORILOR. SINTEZĂ A JURISPRUDENȚEI CURȚII EUROPENE A DREPTURILOR OMULUI

The object of the paper are the standards which, according to the European Court of Human Rights, must be met by the procedure of hearing witnesses so that the defendant be given an
adequate and proper opportunity to question them and the requirements of the fair trial be satisfied. Those standards include a relative right of the accused to confront the prosecution witnesses, the right to legal assistance and the principle of immediacy of witness examination. The latter principle has certain implications regarding the requirement that witnesses should give evidence at trial and that the hearing of witnesses should be repeated in the appeal proceedings and in other situations in which new judges are appointed during trial. It is applicable, pace the Constitutional Court, in the procedure concerning the confirmation of the prosecutor’s decision to discontinue the proceedings. All along the study we follow the way in which the European Court of Human Rights uses the method of combination of criteria to evaluate the interferences with the rights of the accused.