Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
October 1992
Boddaert v. Belgium - 12919/87
Judgment 12.10.1992
Article 6
Article 6-1
Reasonable time
Length of criminal proceedings: no violation
[This summary is extracted from the Court’s official reports (Series A or Reports of Judgments and Decisions). Its formatting and structure may therefore differ from the Case-Law Information Note summaries.]
A.Period to be taken into consideration
Starting-point: issue of warrant for the applicant's arrest.
End: delivery of the Court of Cassation's judgment.
Total: six years, two months and twenty-two days, after deduction of the period during which the applicant had fled to Spain.
B.Applicable criteria
Reasonableness of the length of proceedings: to be determined in the light of the circumstances of the case, which in this instance called for an overall assessment.
Inquiry was a difficult one - the two suspects accused each other of having committed the crime.
Criminal conduct of applicant's co-accused, who was moreover suspected of having committed another murder - shelving of first file pending outcome of investigation of the second case - subsequent joinder of the two cases.
Gravity of the offences and interdependence of the charges could reasonably appear to make it necessary for such a "parallel progression" of the cases.
Conclusion: no violation (unanimously).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy