Published on 19 June 2023
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 36781/15
Giovanni D’ORAZIO against Italy
and 5 other applications
(see list appended)
communicated on 30/05/2023
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applications concern the effectiveness of the remedy in domestic law to complain about the excessive length of criminal proceedings (see the appended table for details).
Article 2 § 2 quinquies, letter e), of Law no. 89 of 24 March 2001, known as the “Pinto Act”, as amended by Law no. 134 of 7 August 2012, established for parties to criminal proceedings to file a request for acceleration of the proceedings (istanza di accelerazione) in order to be, later on, eligible to resort to the remedy provided in the “Pinto Act” for the excessive length of proceedings.
Having regard to the conclusions of the Court of Cassation on the said requirement in other judgments (e.g., no. 1841 of 25 January 2018), the Constitutional Court acknowledged the unconstitutional nature of the requirement imposed by Article 2 § 2 quinquies, letter e), of Law no. 89 of 24 March 2001 (see judgment no. 169 of 10 July 2019).
Relying on Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention, the applicants complain of the excessive length of the criminal proceedings and the lack of an effective remedy.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Was the length of the criminal proceedings in the present cases in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
2. In view of the admissibility condition, established in Article 2 § 2 quinquies, letter e), of Law no. 89 of 24 March 2001, did the applicants have at their disposal, as required by Article 13 of the Convention, an effective domestic remedy through which they could have made their complaint based on the excessive length of the procedure?
APPENDIX
List of applications
1. 36781/15 D’Orazio v. Italy
2. 2654/16 Antico v. Italy
3. 13461/16 D’Arvia v. Italy
4. 15092/16 Falabella v. Italy
5. 48248/16 Alvino v. Italy
6. 54333/16 Calabrese v. Italy