State party's observations and author's comments thereon
4.1 By submission of 27 November 1991/ the State party argues that the
communication is inadmissible on the grounds of non-exhaustion of domestic
remedies. The State party submits that the author could have lodged a
complaint with the Court of Appeal pursuant to article 12 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure fWetboek van Strafvorderinq). which reads:
"1. If no prosecution is brought in respect of an offence or the
prosecution is dropped, the person concerned may lodge a complaint with
the Court of Appeal in whose jurisdiction the prosecution ought to have
been brought. The Court of Appeal may instruct the Public Prosecutor to
draw up a report and may order that a prosecution be instituted or
continued.
"2. The Court of Appeal m&y refuse to give such an order on grounds
derived from the public interests.
4.2 The State party further submits that, as a general rule, the Public
Prosecutor may decide not to prosecute someone "for reasons relating to the
public interest" (Code of Criminal Procedure/ art. 167, para* 2 ) . It stresses
that, in the author's case, the Public Prosecutor saw no reason to charge
anyone but the author. The State party submits that the Covenant does not
provide for the right to have another person prosecuted and refers in this
context to the Committee's admissibility decision in communication No.
213/1986. a/ It therefore argues that this part of the communication is
inadmissible as being incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant.
4.3 As regards the author's contention that the police investigation in his
case was biased, and that only evidence against him was gathered, the State
party submits that the Court may convict someone only on the basis of
convincing legal evidence, presented during the hearing (Code of Criminal
Procedure, art. 338). Legal evidence includes, inter alia, the Court's own
observations during the hearing, and statements made by the accused, witnesses
and experts. The State party submits that the author had the opportunity
during the trial to submit any information that could have been relevant to
the case. It argues that the author's claims have not been substantiated and
refers in this connection to the decision of the European Commission of Human
Eights, dated 2 May 1969, in the same matter, which stated that the
examination of the author's complaints "does not disclose any appearance of a
violation of the rights and freedoms set out in the Convention and in
particular in article 6".
5.1 In
article
desired
persons
his comments, the author argues that lodging a complaint pursuant to
12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure would not have given him the
equality: it would only have resulted in the prosecution of the
who had assaulted him, not in his acquittal.
5.2 The author further contends that the Court should have discharged him,
because of the biased investigation by the police. Since the author appealed
the Court's judgement to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, he claims
to have exhausted all available domestic remedies.
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