Proceedings of the 18th International Academic Conference, London

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE PRINCIPLE IN EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS OF FINLAND.

VLADIMIR JILKINE

Abstract:

The presumption of innocence is considered by the European Court of Human Rights, not only as a principle of criminal justice, but also as a "concrete and real" defendant's right to be presumed innocent until the moment of procedural instance described by paragraph 2, article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. A case procedure is based on the presumption of innocence and the interpretation of doubt in favour of the defendant, protects the suspect, meanwhile the officials authorized to conduct the preliminary investigation, are warned against voicing any allegations. Application of the presumption of innocence in Finland is regarded not only in criminal proceedings but also at a much wider spectrum - in tax, environmental, migration and commercial law. These cases are dealt with in the administrative and commercial courts. This article discusses examples for the application of presumption of innocence in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland.

Keywords: international law, the presumption of innocence, the paradigmatic function of the case-law of the ECHR, the national courts of Finland.

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2015.018.056

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