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In short, consideration of the facts in the light of the sixth
criterion is said to suggest that the length of Neumeister's detention
was excessive. It is true that, at the hearing in February 1968, the
Government's representatives gave the Court further details of the
steps taken to relieve the burden on the Investigating Judge (cf.
infra). The Commission's answer is that those details would have
caused it to amplify its Report somewhat if it had had them then; but
that they are not of such a nature as to upset its conclusion.

11. The Commission considers that the conduct of the judicial
authorities in connection with Neumeister's applications for release
pending trial (first part of the seventh criterion) is open to
differing evaluations. It therefore finds it hard to state with
certainty whether or not an examination of this factor leads to the
conclusion that the length of detention exceeded reasonable bounds.

The Commission does not in any case accept the Government's argument
(cf. infra) that Neumeister forfeited his right to "trial within a
reasonable time" on the day the Judge's Chamber of the Regional
Criminal Court of Vienna first agreed in principle to release him on
bail (8 January 1964). It asserts that the second sentence of
Article 5 (3) (art. 5-3) of the Convention affords the Contracting
States a middle way between continuing detention and outright release,
but it does not consider that resort to that solution gives a
Government an excuse for keeping in detention indefinitely a person
who refuses to provide the security demanded, especially if he is in
no position to do so: otherwise a Government could easily evade its
obligations by requiring excessive guarantees.

The Commission adds that the second part of the seventh criterion (the
conduct of the judicial authorities in completing the trial) is
inapplicable here in connection with Article 5 (3) (art. 5-3), since
Neumeister was released before the trial opened.

12. In the light of an overall evaluation of these various factors,
the Commission concludes, by eleven votes to one, that Article 5 (3)
(art. 5-3) has been violated. It does not state the exact date on
which it considers the violation to have begun: it thinks that its
task was solely to give an opinion on whether or not the period of
Neumeister's detention was reasonable.

13. In the Commission's view, the problem of the "time" stipulated in
Article 6 (1) (art. 6-1) of the Convention is different from the
problem under Article 5 (3) (art. 5-3), for the relevance of the
former Article does not depend on the fact of detention.

In a criminal case the period in question is thought by the Commission
to date from the day on which the suspicion against a person begins to
have substantial repercussions on his situation. In the present case,
the Commission, by seven votes to five, has taken this to be the day
of Neumeister's first interrogation by the Investigating Judge
(21 January 1960) - not, for instance, the date on which the charge
was preferred (17 March 1964).

The Commission furthermore considers, by nine votes to three, that the
"time" referred to in Article 6 (art. 6) does not end with the
opening of the trial or the hearing of the accused by the trial court
(cf. the words "entendue" and "hearing") but, at the very least, with
the "determination" by the court of first instance "of any criminal
charge against him" ("... décidera ... du bien-fondé de toute
accusation") - which has not yet come about in this case. The
Commission does not think it necessary in the present instance to
consider here whether this "time" would also include appeal
proceedings, if any.
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