FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 51378/19
István ILLÉS against Hungary
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 28 May 2020 as a Committee composed of:
Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström, President,
Georges Ravarani,
Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 26 September 2019,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicant,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant’s details are set out in the appended table.
The applicant was represented by Mr K. Cseterics, a lawyer practising in Budapest.
The applicant’s complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of criminal proceedings were communicated to the Hungarian Government (“the Government”).
THE LAW
Complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (excessive length of criminal proceedings)
In the present application, having examined all the material before it, the Court considers that for the reasons stated below, the respondent Government cannot be held liable for the protraction of the proceedings.
In particular, the Court notes that the domestic courts expressly recognised the undue length of the trial and provided adequate redress by appreciating this element as an important mitigating factor when sentencing the applicant to only one year and six months’ prison, execution suspended for two years, although he was prosecuted for fraud and theft, offences carrying potential sentences of up to three years of imprisonment. In these circumstances, the Court is satisfied that the violation of the applicant’s Convention rights has been expressly acknowledged and redressed. Consequently, the applicant can no longer claim to be a victim for the purposes of Article 34 of the Convention.
In view of the above, the Court finds that these complaints are incompatible ratione personae with the provision of the Convention and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Declares the application inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 18 June 2020.
Liv TigerstedtStéphanie Mourou-Vikström
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
Application raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
(excessive length of criminal proceedings)
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Representative’s name and location
Start of proceedings
End of proceedings
Total length
Levels of jurisdiction
51378/19
26/09/2019
István ILLÉS
21/11/1966
Cseterics Krisztián
Budapest
21/07/2010
05/11/2019
9 year(s) and 3 month(s) and 16 day(s) 2 level(s) of jurisdiction
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