This week in Strasbourg - A roundup of the European Court of Human Rights' case law - 2014 week 9

 

PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE - On Thursday the the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority, in the case of Karaman v. Germany that a fraud suspect's presumption of innocence was not violated by a court’s statements about him in separate proceedings against his co-suspects.The case concerned Mr Karaman’s complaint that his right to be presumed innocent was breached on account of references to his participation in a criminal offence in a judgment handed down by a German court in criminal proceedings against several of his co-suspects, who were tried separately from him. The Court found in particular that: the trial court could not have avoided mentioning the role played by Mr Karaman in order to assess the guilt of one of the co-suspects in the fraud case; the language used by the trial court had made it sufficiently clear that any mention of Mr Karaman did not entail a determination of his guilt; and, the German courts had emphasised that it would be contrary to the presumption of innocence to attribute any guilt to him on the basis of the outcome of the trial against his co-suspects. The Court held:

This week in Strasbourg - A roundup of the European Court of Human Rights' case law - 2014 week 8

PRE-TRIAL DETENTION - In the case of Novruz Ismayilov v. Azerbaijan the Court found violations of Articles 5 § 3 and 5 § 4 The Court held that the national courts had failed to sufficiently justify his pre-trial detention, noting in particular that he had always collaborated with the investigating authorities before his arrest and that no account had been taken of his personal situation (he was a permanent resident with family ties, work references and no previous criminal record).  The Court also held that the hearings concerning the extension of his pre-trial detention had been held in his absence, that his lawyer had not been informed of the date and place of a hearing held in December 2004 and that the national courts had not addressed his specific arguments for release. The Court held in general:

This week in Strasbourg - A roundup of the European Court of Human Rights' case law - 2014 week 7

Texts build on the press releases of the European Court of Human Rights. 

This selection covers categories 1 and 2 judgments. 

Violation of Article 3 (prohibition inhuman or degrading treatment) - In the case of Contrada (No. 2) v. Italy the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority, that the continued detention of the applicant was incompatible with his state of health. The case concerned the authorities’ repeated refusal of a prisoner’s requests for a stay of execution of his sentence or for the sentence to be converted to house arrest on account of his numerous health problems. In the light of the medical certificates that had been available to the authorities and the length of time that elapsed before Mr Contrada was placed under house arrest, the Court held that his continued detention had been incompatible with the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment under the Convention.

This week in Strasbourg - A roundup of the European Court of Human Rights' case law - 2014 week 6

The Smash-ASEM demonstrations degenerated into clashes with police in 2006. Image: Marja Airio / Lehtikuva 

"The criminal record Pentikäinen has received represents a further blow for freedom of the press in Finland, a country that, until recently, has had a superb press freedom record," said Johann P. Fritz, IPI Director. "In order to fulfil their role as public watchdog, the press need to be afforded certain rights. In the case of Pentikäinen, this right meant the permission to remain at the scene of the demonstration to continue reporting. Pentikäinen was not taking part in the demonstration, nor was he disrupting the peace. In fact, his witnessing of alleged police brutality proves that his continued presence was justified, and the fact that his arrest could be construed as pre-emptive censorship is truly worrying." International Press Institute (IPI)

Nieuwsbrief Rechtspraak Europa no. 2 - februari 2014 (European Courts' newsletter in Dutch)

Klik hier voor de nieuwsbrief Rechtspraak Europa verzorgd door het gerechtshof Amsterdam met een overzicht van de rechtspraak van de afgelopen maand van het Europese Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens in Straatsburg en het Hof van justitie van de Europese Unie in Luxemburg.