The Right to a Fair Trial for Civil Servants and the Importance of the State’s Interest in Applying Article 6, Paragraph 1 ECHR

The aim of this article is to discuss the hermeneutical evolution of civil servants' right of access to court in the light of ECtHR case law. The article begins with some preliminary notions about the right to a fair trial and the multifaceted character of article 6 paragraph 1 ECHR in the light of ECtHR case law. It then delves into the case law concerning public servants (including judges) to collocate it in the broader body of ECtHR jurisprudence, and to extract two precepts: 1) a clear trend extending the scope of application of article 6 paragraph 1 ECHR to the public service; 2) a waning of the importance of the state’s interest and the need to pursue specific institutional goals as rationales for this hermeneutical evolution.