Order of the Court of Cassation, II Criminal Section, No. 2259 of 26 October 2015

With this order, the Second Criminal Section of the Court of Cassation asked the United Sections of the same Court to decide on a general principle relevant to the ECHR domestic implementation. This was the question of whether the Court of Cassation has the power of ascertaining ex officio the non-respect of the ECHR provisions. The case from which the question originated concerned the revision of an acquittal verdict of first instance, which the judge of appeal had converted into conviction on the mere grounds of a differing assessment of the collected evidences and, thus, without renewing the debate as required in accordance of the ECHR Court’s interpretation. The United Sections later decided on the question, through decision No. 27620 of 2016, stating that the Court of Cassation has the power of raising ex officio questions concerning non-respect of the ECHR.