Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)68[1]
Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
Płoski and Czarnowski against Poland
(Płoski: Application No. 26761/95, judgment of 12 November 2002, final on 12 February 2003
Czarnowski: Application No. 28586/03, judgment of 20 January 2009, final on 20 April 2009,
rectified on 4 June 2009)
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 judgments transmitted by the Court to the Committee once they had become final;
Recalling that the violations of the Convention found by the Court in these cases concern a breach of the applicants’ right to respect for their private and family life in that, while in detention, there were denied leave to attend their parents’ funerals (violations of Article 8) (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 judgments;
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, within the time-limit set, 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 in the 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
- general measures, preventing similar violations;
DECLARES, that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in these cases and
DECIDES to close the examination thereof.
Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)68
Information on the measures taken to comply with the judgments in the cases of
Płoski and Czarnowski against Poland
Introductory case summary
The cases concern violations of the applicants’ right to respect for their private and family life in that, while in detention, there were denied leave to attend their parents’ funerals (violations of Article 8). In the Płoski case, at the material time (1994) the applicant was detained on remand. In the Czarnowski case, at the material time (2003), the applicant was serving a prison sentence.
I.Payment of just satisfaction and individual measures
a) Details of just satisfaction (Płoski case)
Pecuniary damage
Non-pecuniary damage
Costs and expenses
Total
-
1500 EUR
1170 EUR
2670 EUR
Paid within the time-limit set
In the Czarnowski case, the applicant submitted no claim for just satisfaction.
b) Individual measures
In view of the circumstances of these cases, no other individual measure was considered necessary by the Committee of Ministers.
II.General measures
The European Court concluded that the provisions of the Code of Execution of Criminal Sentences of 1969 in force were in principle in conformity with the requirements of Convention. The provisions in the 1997 Code which replaced the 1969 Code are in substance unchanged.
The Płoski judgment was published in Polish in the Bulletin of the Council of Europe Information Centre, issue No. 1/2003, and on its Internet site . The Ministry of Justice has sent the text of the judgment together with a circular letter to the presidents of courts of appeal to be sent out to all judges.
The Czarnowski judgment has been translated into Polish and is available on the internet site of the Ministry of Justice (). Information about its publication, together with a circular letter underlining the principles resulting from the European Court’s case-law has been sent out to all presidents of courts of appeal with a request to disseminate it among all penitentiary and criminal judges, as well as to the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution.
III.Conclusions of the respondent state
The government considers that no other individual measure is necessary, that the measures adopted will prevent similar violations and that Poland has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention.
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 8 June 2011 at the 1115th Meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies
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