Speediness of Judicial Review of the Lawfulness of Detention: European Approach to Russian problems

The article provides an analysis of case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the requirement of “speediness” of judicial review of the lawfulness of detention (Article 5 § 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights) in the context of criminal proceedings. Its approach to the periods and relevant factors to be taken into consideration when assessing speediness of the proceedings has been explored. The Court’s standards concerning the question of compliance with the “speediness” requirement are rather strict. It can be deduced from its case-law that two weeks at first instance and three weeks on appeal may be a rough rule of thumb in such cases. The article also contains an overview of judicial remedies against detention on remand available under the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure and discusses whether Article 5 § 4 of the Convention is applicable to extraordinary remedies such as cassation appeals on points of law and supervisory review appeals. Violation of the “speediness” requirement in detention review proceedings is a widespread problem in Russia. A breach of this requirement gives rise to the right to compensation under Article 5 § 5 of the Convention which is currently not enforceable in Russia. The author comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to develop and implement a mechanism which secures compensation for violation of the “speediness” requirement, by analogy with Federal Law no. 68-FZ of April 30, 2010 “On Compensation for Violation of the Right to a Trial within Reasonable Time or the Right to Enforcement of a Judgment within Reasonable Time”.

About the author: Alexey Laptev – Doctor of Laws (Dr. jur.), LL.M. (Kiel), Human Rights Expert, Prison Litigation Network, Lawyer at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights (2010–2014).

Сitation: Laptev A. (2016) Bezotlagatel'nost' rassmotreniya sudom pravomernosti soderzhaniya pod strazhey: evropeyskie podkhody k rossiyskim problemam [Speediness of judicial review of the lawfulness of detention: European approach to Russian problems]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, no.3, pp.48–63. (In Russian).

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