Ćwik v. Poland (a few more thoughts on torture)

This article focuses on confessions made as a result of torture, but infl icted not by a State agent, but by a third party, and not during, but outside of, preparatory proceedings. The position of the European Court of Human Rights in the judgment in the case of Ćwik v. Poland diverges from the current case law and as such is important for legal practice with respect to the use of the evidence obtained. In the judgment, the Court also presented an evaluation of a possible use of confessions as evidence to hand down a conviction in the proceedings concerning serious cross-border crime (trafficking of large amounts of drugs). This evaluation is very different to the uniform position of Polish courts examining this matter