Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 92
December 2006
Adamiak v. Poland - 20758/03
Judgment 19.12.2006 [Section IV]
Article 5
Article 5-3
Length of pre-trial detention
Pre-trial detention lasting five years in proceedings concerning import and trafficking of drugs by an organised criminal group: violation
Facts: The applicant was detained pending trial for approximately five years in connection with proceedings concerning drug smuggling and trafficking by a large criminal organisation. He was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to traffic drugs.
Law: The Government contended in particular that the offence in question – drug trafficking – required thorough investigation and involved the production of complex evidence. The Court considered that the reasons given by the domestic courts to justify extending the applicant’s detention – the nature of the offence, the heavy sentence which it carried, the complexity of the case and the risk that the applicant might abscond and obstruct the course of justice – had been insufficient with the passage of time to justify depriving him of his liberty for such a long period. The fact that the criminal proceedings related to an organised criminal group was not sufficient reason for a period of pre-trial detention lasting five years.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
See Chraidi v. Germany (no. 65655/01), judgment of 26 October 2006, Information Note No. 90.
Article 41 – EUR 1,500 for non-pecuniary damage.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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