CEDH · PRESS;FORTHCOMINGJUDGMENTS;ENG — 26 mars 2009

.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 } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s4B8D41EE { font-family:Arial; font-size:10pt } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS 256 26.3.2009   Press release issued by the Registrar   FORTHCOMING GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENT   30 March 2009   The European Court of Human Rights will be notifying in writing its Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Léger v. France (application no. 19324/02) on Monday 30 March 2009. The case concerns Mr Léger’s complaint that his detention for more than 41 years was arbitrary and constituted inhuman and degrading treatment.   Lucien Léger, now deceased, was a French national who was born in 1937 and lived in Laon (France).   In July 1964 he was arrested and charged with the abduction and murder of Luc   Taron, an 11-year-old boy. He made a confession while in police custody but retracted it several months later. He protested his innocence until his death in July 2008.   In a judgment of 7   May 1966, Seine-et-Oise Assize Court found the applicant guilty of the offences charged and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He became eligible for parole on 5   July 1979 after 15 years in prison. Mr   Léger subsequently made numerous applications for release, all of which were refused until 3   October 2005 when he was released on licence.   The applicant complained that his continued detention had become arbitrary. He also submitted that in practice it was tantamount to a whole-life sentence and therefore constituted inhuman and degrading treatment. He relied on Article   5 §   1   (a) (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) of the Convention.   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 6   May 2002. A Chamber hearing was held in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 26   April 2005. In its Chamber judgment of 11   April 2006, the Court held, by five votes to two, that there had been no violation of Article   5 §   1   (a) and no violation of Article   3. On 13   September 2006 the panel of the Grand Chamber accepted the applicant’s request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber under Article   43 [1] (referral to the Grand Chamber) . A Grand Chamber hearing was held in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 30   April 2008.   Press releases and texts of the judgments will be available at 11 a.m. (local time) on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   ***   Press contacts Stefano Piedimonte (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 04) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 28 30) Kristina Pencheva-Malinowski (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 70) Céline Menu-Lange (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 58 77)   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. [1] Under Article 43 of the European Convention on Human Rights, within three months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party to the case may, in exceptional cases, request that the case be referred to the 17 ‑ member Grand Chamber of the Court. In that event, a panel of five judges considers whether the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention or its protocols, or a serious issue of general importance, in which case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final judgment. If no such question or issue arises, the panel will reject the request, at which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber judgments become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier if the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request to refer.