Communicated on 16 April 2020
Published on 2 June 2020
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 43942/19
Bogdan BOSIŃSKI
against Poland
lodged on 12 August 2019
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Bogdan Bosiński, is a Polish national who was born in 1972 and is detained in Gdańsk Detention Centre.The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant was arrested on 29 February 2016. On 1 March 2016 the Gdańsk – Południe District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) ordered his detention on remand on suspicion of kidnapping for ransom and illegal possession of a firearm (II Kp 205/16). In the course of the proceedings he was charged with a number of other crimes, including participation in an organised armed criminal group, robbery and impersonating a public official.
In the course of the investigation the applicant’s detention was extended several times by Gdańsk Regional Court (on 24 May, 19 August and 22 November 2016) and the Gdańsk Court of Appeal (on 15 February, 17 May, 16 August and 15 November 2017, on 14 February, 9 May, 10 August and 7 November 2018 and on 7 February 2019). The applicant appealed against all the decisions which extended his pre-trial detention. All his appeals were dismissed by the Gdańsk Court of Appeal acting as a second-instance court.
The domestic courts based their decisions on a significant probability that the applicant had committed the offences in question, on the fact that he faced a severe sentence and because he had been accused of committing offences within an organised criminal group, which increased the risk of obstructing the proceedings. The courts also emphasised that during the investigation there had been several attempts to threaten family members of one of the co-defendants, in order to intimidate him and convince him to withdraw his statements. Apparently, there had also been an attempt to bribe the same co-defendant. At a later stage of the investigation the courts additionally pointed to the complexity of the case (which involved the need to obtain many experts’ opinions and a large volume of other evidence) and stressed that the investigation had been carried out without undue delays.
The bill of indictment against the applicant was lodged with Olsztyn Regional Court on 7 May 2019.
The applicant’s detention was further extended on 10 May 2019. The applicant unsuccessfully appealed against this decision.
On an unspecified date, not later than on 24 October 2019, the case was transferred to Gdańsk Regional Court for examination. On 6 November 2019 the Gdańsk Court of Appeal extended the applicant’s detention until 31 March 2020. On 27 November 2019 the Gdańsk Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal against this decision. The domestic courts continued to rely on the initial reasons for extending his detention pending trial.
The trial is at an early stage. The first hearing took place on 7 November 2019. Relevant domestic law and practice
The relevant domestic law and practice concerning detention on remand (tymczasowe aresztowanie), the grounds for its extension, release from detention and rules governing other so-called “preventive measures” (środki zapobiegawcze) are set out in the Court’s judgments in the cases of Gołek v. Poland (no. 31330/02, §§ 27-33, 25 April 2006), Celejewski v. Poland (no. 17584/04, §§ 22-23, 4 May 2006) and Kauczor v. Poland (no. 45219/06, § 25-33, 3 February 2009).
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention of the unreasonable length of his detention on remand.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has the length of the applicant’s pre-trial detention been in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention?
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