Belief evidence and informer privilege: revisited in Strasbourg

Belief evidence of a senior police officer is a key tool in the Irish approach to prosecuting terrorist activities. While belief evidence has been subjected to criticism, the use of such evidence has received judicial imprimatur. Having been endorsed by the Irish Supreme Court in 2006, it was only a matter of time before such evidence would be challenged in the European Court of Human Rights. Belief evidence was considered by the Strasbourg Court in Donohoe v Ireland, 1 where the focus was on a claim of privilege over the source of a police officer’s belief. In a somewhat timid judgment, the European Court of Human Rights held that the claim of privilege did not render the applicant’s trial unfair.