Judgment 26/2014, of 13 February 2014, amparo appeal 6922-2008, brought by Mr. Stefano Melloni
Keywords:
Spanish Constitutional Court, Spanish Constitution and European Union Law, European judicial dialogue, Fundamental rights, absolute contents, Trial in Absentia, Right to a fair trial, Right to appear in person, European Arrest Warrant, ExtraditionAbstract
In the final ruling on the Melloni case in Judgment 26/2014, the CC overrules its former case law concerning the absolute contents of the right to a fair trial enshrined in Article 24.2 of the Spanish Constitution, in the sense that the latter is not breached when the accused has waived, unequivocally and on his own free will, his right to appear in person. So will be established if the defendant has been informed of the date and place of the trial and was defended by a legal counsellor to whom he had given a mandate to do so. The grounds of the Judgment remain nevertheless controversial. The SCC applies neither the primacy of EU law nor EU system protecting fundamental rights. Instead, it uses Article 10.2 of the Spanish Constitution in order to reconsider the interpretation of the absolute contents of the right to a fair trial in accordance with the case law of the ECtHR and the ECJ, thereby lowering the level of protection in European arrest warrant and extradition cases. The judgment is also controversial from the perspective of European judicial dialogue.Downloads
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