PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE IN PRACTICE OF ECtHR

Abstract

The current Ukrainian procedural legislation
and the legislation of foreign countries pay great
attention to the problems of resolving the burden of
proof. Basically, the legislation of foreign countries,
as well as in Ukraine, mentions the principle of presumption
of integrity and rationality of the presented
evidence. As a rule, due to procedural malpractice,
the laws of different countries provide for abuse of
law, which formally looks like a legal act, but can
significantly affect the timeliness of the decision or
the content of the decision itself.
The article examines the issues of evidence in
the structure of decisions of the European Court of
Human Rights. In particular, the main attention is
paid to the use of the prima facie circumstance
through the prism of the decisions of the European
Court of Human Rights, which illustrate possible
situations in which it is appropriate to use this circumstance.
The use of the circumstance “prima facie”
is directly related to the burden of proof on the
part of the plaintiff on the side of the defendant. Attention
to the institution of evidence, taking into account
the prima facie circumstance, is connected
with the fundamental role that it continues to play in
international justice, such practice of the European
Court of Human Rights is aimed at the fair organization
of the judicial system when guarantees are legally
regulated and enforced in practice are proportional
to legitimate expectations society.
Therefore, it is often the case in the ECtHR
that one can argue that, by providing the applicant
with a prima facie piece of evidence, the fact leads to
the burden of proof being placed on the defendant,
that is, on the government of the country. This leads to the government having to provide evidence to support its own position and to refute the claimant's prima facie evidence. Sometimes the refusal of the defendant to provide documents leads to satisfaction of the claim, since the defendant does not fulfill the burden of proof transferred to him. The shift in the burden of proof after the prima facie finding is a feature of one of the stages of ECtHR litigation, and has to do with the so-called “striking out”.
Keywords: justice, evidence, burden of proof, court proceedings, practice of the ECHR.