Continuitatea completului de judecată din perspectiva jurisprudenței CEDO
The continuity of court panels in light of the ECHR jurisprudence

Summary/Abstract: The complete change in members of court panel during trial requires, in principle, the re-submission of evidence or, at least, of the pieces of evidence thought to be decisive. When panels are made up of more judges, it is essential for the majority of the panel deciding upon the merits to remain unchanged. Higher courts, upon revising lower courts’ decisions, must take this aspect into account, and proceed to a re-submission of evidence in case changes did occur in the composition of court panel during trial upon the merits and evidence, especially testimonials, have not been re-administered. The analysis has to be even stricter in case the evidence formed the basis of the conviction. The norms contained by the New Criminal Procedure Code allow for the latter. Accordingly, the Code prescribes that a court decision is up for challenge to annul when the court decision was taken by a panel, other than that which participated to the hearing on the merits. Even so, this example does not cover all situations that may arise during trial and which may lead to a total change of panel or a change in members of panel during court proceedings.

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