CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 26 avril 2005

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s9A223E1B { width:11.03pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s595A57E4 { width:85.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s3CED24E9 { width:27.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   226 26.4.2005   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING LEGER v. FRANCE   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Chamber hearing today Tuesday 26 April 2005 at 2.30 p.m., on the merits in the case of Léger v. France (application no. 19324/02).     The applicant   The applicant, Lucien Léger, is a French national who was born in 1937. He has been in prison for 41 years and is currently being held in Bapaume Prison (France).   Summary of the facts   In July 1964 he was arrested and charged with the abduction and murder of Luc Taron, an eleven year-old boy. He made a confession while in police custody but retracted it several months later. He has protested his innocence ever since.   In a judgment of 7 May 1966, the Seine et Oise Assize Court found the applicant guilty of the offences charged and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He made unsuccessful applications in 1971 and 1974 for a retrial.   He became eligible for parole on 5 July 1979 after 15 years in prison. In 1981, 1992 and 1998 he applied for presidential pardon, but this was refused.   In 1999 he requested his release on licence. Despite a favourable opinion by the Execution of Sentences Consultative Board, his request was turned down by the Minister of Justice on 15   June 2000.   In January 2001 the applicant made a further application for release. As he had done on previous occasions, he explained that friends had offered to accommodate him on his release in an outbuilding at their home and to give him work in their bakery. The Execution of Sentences Consultative Board issued a unanimous opinion in favour of his release on licence and the applicant’s probation and rehabilitation officer also strongly recommended that he be released. Despite that, the Douai Regional Parole Court rejected the request on 6 July 2001 on the grounds that the applicant continued to deny that he had committed the offence for which he had been convicted. That decision was upheld on 23 November 2001 by the National Parole Court on the grounds that the applicant’s planned rehabilitation had been put in doubt by the intervening bankruptcy of the person who had offered to put him up and give him work and that he was unwilling to seek counselling even though he presented paranoid tendencies.     Complaints   The applicant complains under Article 5 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to liberty and security) that his continued detention has become arbitrary. He also submits that in practice it is tantamount to a whole-life sentence and therefore constitutes inhuman and degrading treatment in breach of Article 3 of the Convention.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 6 May 2002 and declared admissible on 21 September 2004.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   András Baka (Hungarian), President , Jean-Paul Costa (French), Riza Türmen (Turkish), Karel Jungwiert (Czech), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese), Elisabet Fura-Sandström (Swedish), judges , Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portuguese), Volodymyr Butkevych (Ukrainian), Danute Jočienė (Lithuanian), Dragoljub Popović (citizen of Serbia and Montenegro), substitute judges , and also Sally Dollé , Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Jean-Luc Florent , Agent ,   Gilles Dutertre , Frédéric Amegadjie , Counsel , ;   Maurice Barate , Richard Dubant , Advisers   ;   Applicant :   Jean-Jacques De Félice , Counsel .   ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date.   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. More detailed information about the Court and its activities can be found on its Internet site.