DRAGOJEVIĆ v. CROATIA JUDGMENT
31
the relevant practice on the matter and not any concrete circumstances of the
case.
(b) The Court’s assessment
(i) General principles
111. The Court reiterates that Article 6 § 1 of the Convention requires a
court to be impartial. Impartiality denotes the absence of prejudice or bias.
According to the Court’s case-law, there are two tests for assessing whether
a tribunal is impartial within the meaning of Article 6 § 1. The first test
(subjective) consists in seeking to determine the personal conviction of a
particular judge in a given case. The personal impartiality of a judge must
be presumed until there is proof to the contrary. As to the second test
(objective), it means determining whether, quite apart from the personal
conduct of a judge, there are ascertainable facts which may raise doubts as
to his/her impartiality (see, for example, Padovani v. Italy, 26 February
1993, § 26, Series A no. 257-B; Gautrin and Others v. France, 20 May
1998, § 58, Reports 1998-III).
112. The Court notes that in the vast majority of cases raising
impartiality issues it has focused on the objective test. However, there is no
watertight division between subjective and objective impartiality since the
conduct of a judge may not only prompt objectively held misgivings as to
impartiality from the point of view of the external observer (objective test)
but may also go to the issue of his or her personal conviction (subjective
test) (see Kyprianou v. Cyprus [GC], no. 73797/01, § 119, ECHR
2005-XIII). Thus, in some cases where it may be difficult to procure
evidence with which to rebut the presumption of the judge’s subjective
impartiality, the requirement of objective impartiality provides a further
important guarantee (see Pullar v. the United Kingdom, 10 June 1996, § 32,
Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-III).
113. The Court also emphasises that in this respect even appearances
may be of a certain importance or, in other words, “justice must not only be
done, it must also be seen to be done” (see De Cubber v. Belgium,
26 October 1984, § 26, Series A no. 86). What is at stake is the confidence
which the courts in a democratic society must inspire in the public. Thus,
any judge in respect of whom there is a legitimate reason to fear a lack of
impartiality must withdraw (see Castillo Algar v. Spain, 28 October 1998,
§ 45, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998-VIII; and Micallef v. Malta
[GC], no. 17056/06, § 98, ECHR 2009).
114. In cases where a judge presiding over the trial has already dealt
with the case at an earlier stage of the proceedings and has given various
decisions in respect of the applicant at the pre-trial stage – including
decisions on continued detention – the Court has observed that, in general,
one of the roles of the trial judge is to manage the proceedings with a view
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