The prolonged 4.5-year temporary detention is excessive and unjustifiable and violates the ECHR
JUDGMENT
Lisovskij v. Lithuania 2-5-2017 (no. 36249/14)
SUMMARY
Temporary detention lasting 4.5 years with continued extensions is excessive and violates Article 5 (3) of the ECHR, as this duration is excessive and unjustified.
PROVISION
Article 5 par. 3
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Genrik Lisovskij, is a Lithuanian national who was born in 1987 and lives in Vilnius. The case concerned his complaint about the excessive length of his detention on remand.
In December 2009 Mr Lisovskij was arrested and placed in detention on remand on suspicion of participating in an armed criminal organisation which possessed and distributed large quantities of drugs. He remained in detention on remand until May 2014. During the entire period from 2009 to 2014, Mr Lisovskij’s detention on remand was authorised – and extended every three months – essentially on the grounds that he might flee or commit further crimes and that the case, involving organised crime, was particularly complex. In particular, there were over 50 witnesses and other suspects, and multiple investigative measures needed to be carried out. After the criminal case was transferred to the first-instance court for examination in December 2010, 57 hearings were scheduled, although almost half were adjourned, mainly because of the absence of witnesses or his co-accused. In May 2014 Mr Lisovskij was convicted and sentenced to ten years and six months’ imprisonment in a separate set of criminal proceedings. In 2015 he was convicted of the charges at the origin of his arrest in 2009 and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment, less the time spent in pretrial detention from 2009 to 2014. The appeal proceedings in both cases are currently still pending. In September 2016 Mr Lisovskij was released on bail.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Relying on Article 5 § 3 (right to liberty and security / entitlement to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial), Mr Lisovskij submitted that his detention on remand for nearly four and a half years had been excessive and unjustified.
Violation of Article 5 § 3
Just satisfaction: EUR 4,700 (non-pecuniary damage)
