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51 Acta Jur. Hng. 1 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/ajur51 and id is 1 raw text is: 1216-2574/USD 20.00 ACTA JURIDICA HUNGARICA © 2010 Akademiai Kiad6, Budapest 51, No 1, pp. 1-34 (2010) DOI: 10.1556/AJur51.2010.1.1 KANIYE S. A. EBEKU Revisiting the Acquittal of 10 Policemen: Issues of Judicial Independence, Trial by Media and Fair Trial in Cyprus Abstract. In a recent judgment in the Efstathiou case, the Assize Court of Nicosia, Cyprus, acquitted ten Policemen charged with criminal offences related to alleged beating in 2005 of two Cypriot students. That verdict led to spontaneous reactions across the country, with people publicly protesting against and criticizing the judiciary. Among those that made scathing public comments were the Attorney-General of Cyprus and senior Cypriot lawyers. In its judgment, the court had suggested that media comments about the case unduly interfered with the fair trial of the case and amounted to contempt of court. On the whole, this case raises the issues of independence of the judiciary, trial by media and fair trial. There are two opposing views on the propriety or otherwise of the media coverage of the case as well as on whether, and if so, to what extent, the judiciary can be properly criticized. Essentially, this article seeks to consider the issues ofjudicial independence, trial by media and fair trial as well as the closely associated issue of contempt of court arising from the Efstathiou case and in relation to the common- law rooted Cypriot legal system. It argues that the right to fair trial is an inseparable part of a democratic society and that while the right to freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and undoubtedly the bulwark of a democratic society, it is not realizable without an independent judiciary which is equally indispensable in a democratic society. Hence, there is a great need to recognize the limits of the right to freedom of expression in order to sustain the independence of the judiciary and ensure the right to a fair trial. Keywords: Judicial Independence, Trial by Media and Fair Trial, Contempt of Court, Common-law/Commonwealth Countries, European Convention of Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights, Cyprus and Cypriot Law The author dedicates this article to all those who believe in Judicial Independence world-wide. 1. Introduction On 19 March 2009 the Assize Court of Nicosia, Cyprus, stirred up a hornet's nest by its decision to discharge and acquit the ten policemen accused of various criminal offences in the case of Republic v. Efstathiou & Others.' The criminal charges had emanated from an alleged incident of high-handedness and brutality visited on two hapless Cypriot students by the accused persons in December 2005. Importantly, the unfortunate incident was allegedly captured by a secret video which was repeatedly shown on television programmes and published in print and online newspapers before and allegedly during the trial. The revulsion of the civil society over the incident was great, and so was a yearning for the * Professor of Public Law and Chair, University of Nicosia Law School, Cyprus. Also, Visiting Professor of Law, University of Kent Law School, Canterbury, UK. I am indebted to Athanasiou Thanasis Michalakis for his research assistance in writing this article. I am also grateful to him for the generous support he extended to me during my six years so- journ in the Republic of Cyprus. E-mail: ebeku.k@unic.ac.cy, ksael@hotmail.com I Republic v. Efstathiou & Others (Case No. 17179/06), unreported Judgment of 19 March 2009 (Assize Court, Nicosia, Cyprus).

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