Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
February 1991
Colacioppo v. Italy - 13593/88
Judgment 19.2.1991
Article 6
Article 6-1
Reasonable time
Length of criminal proceedings: 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.]
I.ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION ("reasonable time")
A.Period to be taken into consideration
Starting-point: receipt by applicant of a judicial notification.
Close: at the earliest on the pronouncement that there was no case to answer, at the latest on the expiry of time-limit for an appeal on a point of law by prosecuting authorities against that pronouncement.
Total: more than ten years and two months.
B.Applicable criteria
Reasonableness of length of proceedings: to be assessed in the light of the particular circumstances of the case, which in this instance called for overall assessment.
At times proceedings had progressed at normal rate, but case not a complex one and applicant did not cause any significant delays.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
II.ARTICLE 50 OF THE CONVENTION
Pecuniary damage and costs and expenses incurred in the national courts: claim dismissed.
Non-pecuniary damage: sum awarded.
Costs and expenses before Convention organs: no claim – not a matter which Court has to examine of its own motion.
Conclusion: respondent State to pay specified sum to the applicant (unanimously).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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