Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

offended the basic principles of a fair procedure inherent in Article 6(1)of which the right not to incriminate oneself is a constituent part”.The context was a procedure which compelled a person to answer questions 15 .However, the Court appeared to be saying that there were no fixed rules on thesubject. Each case had to be looked at on its own facts to see if there had beenan infringement of the general right to a fair trial. The Court has not, however,normally recognised any circumstances in which this fundamental right can beoverridden by, for example, arguing that forcing persons to answer questionsis a proportionate response when dealing with terrorist suspects 16 . Yet inGafgen v Germany 17 the Court has recently stated that Article 6 does notenshrine any absolute right.Article 3 – Prohibition of Torture3.0.17 Article 3, which proscribes “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”,was drafted partly as a protection against any oppressive practices in thecriminal justice systems of Convention countries.3.0.18 The Review did not receive any representations expressing significantconcerns about the systemic ill treatment of suspects which might infringeArticle 3. Although this report comments on the Spartan conditions in whichsuspects are detained, the Review did not gain the impression that there was afeeling that such ill treatment was prevalent or common. However,15 DTI investigation under the Companies Act 1985; see esp s 434 and s 43616 Heaney and McGuiness v Ireland (2001) 33 EHRR 12 at paras 53-59, Quinn v Ireland unreported,21 December 2000 paras 53-60; Shannon v UK (2006) 42 EHRR 31 at paras 38-4117 (2011) 52 EHRR 1 at para 17857