Determination of criminal case withim reasonable time as a guarantee of a fair trial (remarks in comparative perspective)

The article centres around the notion of “fair trial”: a key element in Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Article 14 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 . Those acts proclaim a set of basic rights which all contracting States bind themselves to respect. Article 6 (1) of the Convention gives the defendant the right to have his case heard “within a reasonable time” and many European countries (i.a. Poland) have been condemned at Strasburg for breach of this provision. Key elements relevant to this right are: ”reasonable time” guarantees, protection against excessive procedural delays, start and end of “relevant period”, particular circumstances of the case, factors taken into account (complexity of case, conduct of applicant and conduct of competent administrative and judicial authorities).. The Convention and the Strasbourg case law have made contracting States more conscious of the problem of delay, and stimulates its legislators to find different ways to overcame it. In many European countries, much of the reforms of criminal procedure has centred around the need to reduce the use of pre trial detention and shortening the time limits between accusation and trial. The measures which accelerate directly criminal proceedings and reduce backlog of cases in courts are among others: preliminary “filtration” of cases, liquidating civil suits connected with criminal cases, restructuring of administration and “technologisation” of the proceedings Important issue discussed in this article is a special type of fast– tracked case ending decisions called “negotiated case ending – settlements”. Those proceedings (which can be found in six European countries) are based on a kind of agreement between the parties, end with real conviction of the offender and their legal consequence is a true but mitigated punishment. In conclusion, the author pointed out oc-c.kulesza@uwb.edu.plUniwersytet w Białymstoku, Wydział Praw