Resolution CM/ResDH(2009)61[1]
Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
Gérard Bernard against France
(Application No. 27678/02, judgment of 26 September 2006, final on 26 December 2006)
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);
Having regard to the judgment in this case, transmitted by the Court to the Committee once it had become final;
Recalling that the violation of the Convention found by the Court in this case concerns the excessive length of the applicant’s detention on remand (violation of Article 5, paragraph 3) (see details in Appendix);
Having invited the government of the respondent state to inform the Committee of the measures taken to comply with its obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide by the judgment;
Having examined the information provided by the government in accordance with the Committee’s Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;
Having satisfied itself that the respondent state paid the applicant the just satisfaction provided in the judgment (see details in Appendix),
Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded by the Court in its judgments, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate:
- of individual measures to put an end to the violations and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and
- of general measures, preventing similar violations;
DECLARES, having examined the measures taken by the respondent state (see Appendix), that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in this case and
DECIDES to close the examination of this case.
Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2009)61
Information about the measures to comply with the judgment in the case of
Gérard Bernard against France
Introductory case summary
The case concerns the excessive length of the applicant’s detention on remand (violation of Article 5, paragraph 3).
The European Court considered that, to comply with the Convention, strong grounds were required for depriving the applicant of his freedom for so long (almost 3 years, between 1999 and 2002). The grounds on which the decisions to keep the applicant in detention on remand were based had been relevant initially, but they ceased to be so with the passage of time.
I.Payment of just satisfaction and individual measures
a) Details of just satisfaction
Pecuniary damage
Non-pecuniary damage
Costs and expenses
Total
-
3 000 euros
250 euros
3 250 euros
Paid on 11/04/2007 (+ interest)
b) Individual measures
The applicant is no longer detained on remand.
II.General measures
First, it may be noted that this case presents similarities to that of Muller (final Resolution ResDH(2003)50), closed following the adoption of legislative measures, in particular limiting the conditions and the length of detention on remand, the exceptional character of which has been reaffirmed (Law No. 2000-516 of 15/06/2000 “reinforcing the protection of the presumption of innocence and the rights of victims”).
Furthermore, specific measures have been taken to put the competent authorities, in particular judges, who apply the Convention directly, in a position to draw the consequences of the Gérard Bernard judgment when applying the relevant national provisions.
Thus the judgment was sent to the First President of the Cour de cassation, to the Prosecutor General of the Cour de Cassation, to the Prosecutor General of the Paris Court of Appeal, as well as to the Office of the Ministry of Justice in charge of criminal cases and pardons. A presentation of this judgment has also been published in the Bulletin d’information de la Cour de cassation No. 648 of 15/10/2006, and in La Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme - 2006 - Arrêts concernant la France et leurs commentaires - a publication of the European Law Observatory (Observatoire de Droit Européen) available on the Internet site of the Cour de cassation).
III.Conclusions of the respondent state
The government considers that the no individual measures are necessary, that the general measures adopted will prevent new, similar violations, and that France has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention.
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 2 April 2009 at the 1051st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies
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