CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 6 mai 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 } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s2E932ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:11pt } .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 } .sA8C2B9B0 { width:20.37pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt }   371 6.5.2009   Press release issued by the Registrar   GRAND CHAMBER HEARING MEDVEDYEV AND OTHERS v. FRANCE   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Grand Chamber hearing today Wednesday 6 May 2009 at 9.15 a.m. , in the case of Medvedyev and Others v. France (application no.   3394/03).   The hearing will be broadcast from 2.30 p.m. on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     The applicants   The applicants are Oleksandr Medvedyev and Borys Bilenikin, Ukrainian nationals, Nicolae Balaban, Puiu Dodica, Nicu Stelian Manolache and Viorel Petcu, Romanian nationals, Georgios Boreas, a Greek national, and Sergio Cabrera Leon and Guillermo Luis Eduar Sage Martinez, Chilean nationals. They were crew-members of the Winner , a cargo vessel flying the flag of Cambodia.   Summary of the facts   As part of an international operation against drug trafficking, the French authorities were informed that the ship was likely to be carrying significant quantities of narcotics. On 13 June 2002, the French Navy apprehended the Winner on the high seas, in the waters off Cap Verde, and towed her to Brest harbour (France) where she docked on 26 June. The applicants claimed to have been the victims of an arbitrary deprivation of liberty on account of being detained on board the Winner for 13   days under the surveillance of the French military, then in police custody – two days for some of them, three days for the others – on their arrival in Brest.   Complaints   Relying on Article   5   §   1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights, they complain that the deprivation of liberty to which they were subjected was unlawful, particularly in the light of international law. Under Article   5   §   3 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention, they also complain that they waited 15   to 16   days to be brought before “a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power”.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 19   December 2002. A hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 13   May 2008.   In a judgment of 10   July 2008 the Court held that the applicants had not been deprived of their liberty in accordance with the law and consequently held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article   5   §   1. However, considering that the length of their deprivation of liberty had been justified by the “wholly exceptional circumstances” of the case, in particular the inevitable delay entailed by having the Winner tugged to France, the Court concluded, by four votes to three, that there had not been a violation of Article   5   §   3. It held that the finding of a violation constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicants, and awarded them EUR   5,000   euros   (EUR) jointly for costs and expenses.   On 1   December 2008 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the Government’s and the applicants’ request.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:   Nicolas Bratza (the United Kingdom), President , Jean-Paul Costa (France), Christos Rozakis (Greece), Françoise Tulkens (Belgium), Josep Casadevall (Andorra), Giovanni Bonello (Malta), Corneliu Bîrsan (Romania) Boštjan M. Zupančič (Slovenia), Lech Garlicki (Poland), Elisabet Fura-Sandström (Sweden), Khanlar Hajiyev (Azerbaijan), Dean Spielmann (Luxembourg), Ján Šikuta (Slovakia), George Nicolaou (Cyprus), Nona Tsotsoria (Georgia), Ann Power (Ireland), Mihai Poalelungi (Moldova), judges , Sverre Erik Jebens (Norway), Luis López Guerra (Spain), Päivi Hirvelä (Finland), substitute judges , and also Michael O’Boyle , Deputy Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Edwige Belliard , Agent ,   Jean-Claude Marin , Louis di Guardia , Anne-Françoise Tissier , Counsel ,   Marie   Mongin-Heuzé , Thierry Pocquet du Haut Jusse , Jean-Christophe Gracia , Dorothée Merri , Advisers ;   Applicants :   Patrice Spinosi , Counsel .     ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date [1] .   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] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.