Most European countries (France, Italy, Spain, and I'd guess, Monaco as well) do not have trials in the US-UK style. They have an "investigating magistrate" who gets written evidence submitted to him by the prosecutor and by the defense lawyer and then conducts his own investigation and interviews witnesses himself. At the end of this process, he issues a report; if he finds the defendant innocent, the defendant is released; if he finds him guilty, there is then a public trial, but normally a much shorter one than in England or the US, with much of the evidence coming out of the investigating magistrate's report and only a few key witnesses actually testifying in a courtroom.
This sounds very Kafkaesque to those of us used to American-style justice, and it certainly is possible that Monaco is trying to put the fix in, but otherwise-civilized countries seem to use this system without too many claims of injustice.