Communicated on 24 February 2016
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 4565/14
Igor Stepanovych KHIMCHAK
against Ukraine
lodged on 19 December 2013
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Igor Stepanovych Khimchak, is a Ukrainian national, who was born in 1968 and lives in the town of Mykolayiv, Lviv Region, Ukraine. He is represented before the Court by Mr O.V. Mytsyk, a lawyer practising in Lviv, Ukraine.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 6 June 2013 the applicant, at the material time a Mykolayiv town mayor, was arrested. On the next day he was charged with taking bribes in the amount of 1,040,000 Ukrainian hryvnas (UAH).
On 8 June 2013 the Lviv Galytskyy District Court ordered the applicant’s pre-trial detention until 9 August 2013. The court noted that the applicant, who was suspected of having committed a serious crime, had a criminal record and could escape and hinder the investigation. The court therefore set bail in the amount of UAH 1,040,000 (around 63,000 euros (EUR) at the material time).
The applicant appealed stating that his criminal record was twenty years’ old and that all other reasons invoked by the court had been unsubstantiated. Moreover, his income was much lower than the proposed bail amount.
On 17 June 2013 the Lviv Regional Court of Appeal upheld the decision of 8 June 2013.
Between June and December 2013 the Galytskyy District Court on two occasions extended the applicant’s pre-trial detention, the last time until 4 December 2013.
On 4 December 2013 the Mykolayivskyy District Court rejected the prosecutor’s request to further extend the applicant’s pre-trial detention. According to the applicant, he was released on 5 December 2013.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains that his detention between 7 June and 5 December 2013 was in breach of Article 5 § 1 and 3 of the Convention as there were no reasons for his pre-trial detention, and, in particular, as there were no legal grounds for his detention on 4 and 5 December 2013.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Was the applicant deprived of his liberty in breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, what were the legal grounds for the applicant’s detention on 4 and 5 December 2013?
2. Was the length of the applicant’s pre-trial detention in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention?
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