THE PRINCIPLE OF EVIDENTIARY LOYALTY IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: HUMAN DIGNITY AND FAIR TRIAL GUARANTEES
THE PRINCIPLE OF EVIDENTIARY LOYALTY IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: HUMAN DIGNITY AND FAIR TRIAL GUARANTEES

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the principle of evidentiary loyalty as a structural safeguard of the right to a fair trial within criminal proceedings. Starting from the premise that the criminal process cannot tolerate the use of evidence obtained through violence, coercion, deceit, or other forms of procedural illegitimacy, the study analyzes the correlation between domestic law – particularly Articles 101-102 of the Romanian Code of Criminal Procedure – and the standards developed in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. Human dignity, as the core value protected by Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, imposes absolute limits on the methods through which evidence may be gathered, while Article 6 requires courts to exclude any evidence that affects the fairness of the proceedings. By interpreting both doctrinal sources and relevant case law, the article argues that evidentiary loyalty functions not merely as a technical rule, but as an essential guarantee of procedural integrity and judicial legitimacy.

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