Tokens: Indeed
,
the
Court
agreed
that
“
the
domestic
courts
were
bound
by
the
Attorney
General
’s
decision
as
to
which
court
would
have
been
competent
to
try
the
accused
”
(
see
paragraph
43
of
the
judgment
)
–
a
situation
which
may
be
described
as
a
privileged
position
of
one
of
the
parties
to
define
the
competent
court
in
accordance
with
its
own
preference
rather
than
with
the
regulations
laid
down
by
the
law
or
with
the
general
principle
that
courts
should
decide
on
their
own
competence
.
More
importantly
,
this
Court
shared
the
national
courts
’
view
that
in
choosing
the
competent
court
in
accordance
with
his
own
preference
the
Attorney
General
in
fact
had
the
power
to
limit
the
courts
’
discretion
,
in
determining
the
appropriate
punishment
,
to
the
brackets
of
varying
severity
indicated
by
the
prosecution
in
the
absence
of
clear
criteria
or
guidelines
.
Thus
–
unlike
this
Court
–
the
national
courts
were
not
free
to
act
as
“
the
masters
of
the
characterisation
to
be
given
in
law
to
the
facts
of
the
case
”
and
were
not
competent
to
reclassify
the
impugned
act
as
one
punishable
by
a
more
lenient
sentence
,
“
despite
any
concerns
the
judge
might
have
had
as
to
the
use
of
the
prosecutor
’s
discretion
”
(
see
paragraph
43
)
,
and
with
the
result
that
“
such
decisions
were
at
times
unpredictable
”
(
see
paragraph
42
)
.
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