CEDH · PRESS;FORTHCOMINGJUDGMENTS;ENG — 23 mars 2010

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s598389F8 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center; font-size:11pt } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sA678F94A { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right; font-size:11pt } .s2E932ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:11pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .s99A63BFE { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; font-size:11pt } .sF585D7ED { width:9.23pt; display:inline-block } .s3C4DB099 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; font-size:10pt } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s4BAE41EE { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s11AD46B1 { font-family:Arial; font-size:7.33pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s92A5AB2 { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .s1F6AC3E7 { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt; font-style:italic } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s5FFF0A7F { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:9pt } .sBACB86A2 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 }   249 23.03.2010   Press release issued by the Registrar   FORTHCOMING GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENTS   29 March 2010   The European Court of Human Rights will deliver its Grand Chamber judgments in the cases of Depalle v. France (application no. 34044/02), Brosset-Triboulet and Others v. France (no. 34078/02) and Medvedyev and Others v. France   (no. 3394/03) in a public hearing on Monday 29 March 2010 at 9.30 a.m. (two first cases) and 10.00 a.m. (Medvedyev) - local time - in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg.   The press releases and the texts of the judgments will be available after the hearing on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     Depalle v. France (no. 34044/02) Brosset-Triboulet and Others v. France (no. 34078/02)     In the first case the applicant, Louis Depalle, is a French national who was born in 1919 and lives in Monistrol d’Allier (France). In the second case the applicants are two French nationals, Mrs Ijjo Brosset-Triboulet, who was born in 1935 and lives in Sainte Croix Grand Tome (France), and Mrs   Eliane Brosset-Pospisil, who was born in 1938 and died in 2008 [1] .   The applicants occupy houses built on land falling within the category of maritime public property in Arradon (Morbihan département ). Until 1993 the Prefect had authorised them to occupy public property in consideration of payment of a fee. In 1993, after the entry into force of the “Coastal Areas Act” of 1986, he did not renew that authorisation but ordered them to demolish the houses at their own expense and without prior compensation. The French courts upheld the administrative authorities’ decisions on the ground that the applicants could not rely on any real property rights over the dwellings in question.   The applicants argue that the obligation imposed on them is incompatible with their rights under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the Convention and Article   8 of the Convention (right to respect for home).   The applications were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 4   September   2002. On 25 September 2008 the Chamber to which the cases had been allocated relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber under Article 30 [2] of the Convention. On 11 February 2009 a hearing was held in public at the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg.   Medvedyev and Others v. France   (no. 3394/03)   The nine 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 a cargo vessel named the Winner .   In June 2002 the French authorities requested authorisation to intercept the Winner , which was registered in Cambodia, as it was suspected of carrying significant quantities of narcotics for distribution in Europe. Cambodia granted the request and the French Navy apprehended the Winner in international waters off the shores of Cap Verde, and diverted the vessel to Brest harbour (France). The applicants were confined on board under the surveillance of the French military until the ship arrived in Brest thirteen days later. They were then taken into police custody and brought before investigating judges the same day. On conclusion of the criminal proceedings against the applicants, three of them were found guilty of conspiracy to illegally attempt to import narcotics, and received sentences ranging from three to twenty years’ imprisonment. The other six applicants were acquitted.   Relying on Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security), the applicants complained that they had been deprived of liberty unlawfully, particularly in the light of international law, as the French authorities had not had the requisite powers in that regard. Under Article   5   §   3 (right   to liberty and security), they also complained that it had taken too long to bring them before “a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power”.   In a judgment of 10 July 2008 the Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 5 § 1, taking the view that the applicants had not been deprived of their liberty in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law. It further held, by four votes to three, that there had been no violation of Article 5 § 3, taking into consideration the “wholly exceptional circumstances”, in particular the inevitable delay entailed by having the Winner tugged to France. The Court considered that the finding of a violation constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicants, and held that France was to pay them 5,000 euros jointly for costs and expenses.   On 1 December 2008 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43 of the Convention at the request of the Government and the applicants. On 6 May 2009 a hearing was held in public in the Human Rights Building in Strasbourg.   ***   Press contacts Frédéric Dolt (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 53 39) Céline Menu-Lange (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 58 77) Stefano Piedimonte (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 04) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Kristina Pencheva-Malinowski (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 70) Nina Salomon (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 49 79)   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] After her death on 14 May 2008 her two daughters, Sophie Robinet-Epiard and Elisabeth Pospisil, continued the proceedings as her heirs. [2] Where a case pending before a Chamber raises a serious question affecting the interpretation of the Convention or the protocols thereto, or where the resolution of a question before the Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a judgment previously delivered by the Court, the Chamber may, at any time before it has rendered its judgment, relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber, unless one of the parties to the case objects.