Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 108
May 2008
Nart v. Turkey - 20817/04
Judgment 6.5.2008 [Section II]
Article 5
Article 5-3
Length of pre-trial detention
Pre-trial detention of a minor for 48 days in an adult facility: violation
Facts: The applicant, then aged seventeen, was arrested on suspicion of the armed robbery of a grocer’s shop and held in an adult prison. His lawyer applied for his release on the grounds that, as a minor, he could be detained only as a measure of last resort and not in an adult facility. However, the application was refused by an assize court on account of the nature of the offence and the state of the evidence. The applicant remained in custody for a total of 48 days before being released at the start of his trial. In his application to the Court, he complained of the length of his pre-trial detention.
Law: Various international texts indicated that the pre-trial detention of minors was to be used only as a measure of last resort and to be as short as possible. Likewise, minors were to be kept apart from adults. The applicant had been held in pre-trial detention for 48 days. In finding that period to have been excessive, the Court noted that the authorities had failed to take his age into consideration, that he had been held in a prison with adults and that “the state of the evidence” could not by itself justify the length of his detention.
Conclusion: violation (five votes to two).
Article 41 – EUR 750 in respect of non-pecuniary damage.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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