Resolution CM/ResDH(2012)130[1]
Van Velden against Netherlands
Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
(Application No. 30666/08, judgment of 19/07/2011, final on 19/10/2011)
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 final judgment transmitted by the Court to the Committee in the above case and to the violation established (see document DH-DD(2012)741E);
Recalling that the respondent State’s obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide to by all final judgments in cases to which it has been a party and that this obligation entails, over and above the payment of any sums awarded by the Court, the adoption by the authorities of the respondent State, where required:
- of individual measures to put an end to violations established and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and
- of general measures preventing similar violations;
Having invited the government of the respondent State to inform the Committee of the measures taken to comply with its above mentioned obligation;
Having examined the action report provided by the government indicating the measures adopted in order to give effect to the judgment including the information provided regarding the payment of the just satisfaction awarded by the Court (see document DH-DD(2012)741E);
Having satisfied itself that all the measures required by Article 46, paragraph 1, have been adopted;
DECLARES that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in this case and
DECIDES to close the examination thereof.
Action Report of the Government of the Netherlands
on the implementation of the Court’s judgment
concerning Application no. 30666/08, VAN VELDEN v. the Netherlands,
Judgment of 19 July 2011, Final on 19 January 2012
Introduction
1. On 20 June 2008 Mr Robertus Gemma Maria VAN VELDEN (‘the applicant’) submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) under Article 34 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (‘the Convention’).
2. On 19 July 2011 the Court found that there had been a violation of Article 5, paragraph 4, of the Convention. In addition, the Court ordered the Government of the Netherlands (‘the Government’) to pay the applicant €1,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage, plus any tax that may be chargeable, within three months of the date on which the judgment becomes final in accordance with Article 44, paragraph 2, of the Convention.
3. With reference to the standard classification procedure[2] the Government of the Netherlands wishes to present its action report, with a view to closure of the case by the Committee of Ministers.
Case description
4. Violation of the applicant’s right to liberty and security due to the deprivation of access in 2007 (rejection of his appeal as out of time) to a procedure to obtain his release from pre‑trial detention which under domestic law ought to have been open to him (Article 5 § 4). The Court found that the domestic courts’ rejection of the applicant’s appeal as being lodged out of time was based on the wrongful application of domestic law.
Individual measures
5. The Government of the Netherlands is of the opinion that no further individual measures are required, since the applicant is no longer suffering any consequences of the violation. Later on, the applicant was sentenced to a term of imprisonment from which the time which he had spent in detention on remand was deducted in its entirety (see § 15 of the judgment).
General measures
6. The violation occurred as a result of an isolated incident. The publication and dissemination of the judgment would be sufficient to prevent similar violations in the future. The Dutch authorities consider that, in view of the direct effect of the Court’s judgments in the Netherlands, all the authorities concerned are expected to align their practice with the present judgment. The judgment and the commentary have been published in several Dutch legal journals, including European Human Rights Cases[3] and Nederlands Juristenblad[4].
7. Furthermore, the judgment was brought to the attention of the Council for the Judiciary (Raad voor de Rechtspraak) and the National Office (Parket-Generaal) of the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) by the Ministry of Security and Justice. Both organisations were asked to disseminate the information.
Just satisfaction
8. In its judgment the Court ordered the Government to pay the applicant €1,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage, plus any tax that may be chargeable, within three months of the date on which the judgment became final in accordance with Article 44, paragraph 2 of the Convention. The Government paid this amount and notified the Department for the Execution of the Judgments of the Court accordingly by emailing it the payment registration form on 1 February 2012.
Conclusion
9. The Government believes that the measures taken fulfil the requirements that arise from the Court’s judgment and that these measures will prevent similar violations in the future.
The Hague, 6 August 2012
Liselot Egmond
Deputy Agent of the Government of the Netherlands
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 26 September 2012 at the 1150th Meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies.
[2] As set out in CM/Inf/DH(2010)45 and CM/Inf/DH(2010)37E.
[3] EHRC 2011, 146, with commentary from J. van der Velde.
[4] NJB 2011, no. 1824.
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