CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 10 décembre 1998

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sA1D3DA2E { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s94935B0F { width:389.85pt; display:inline-block } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s23A41E03 { width:36pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s76CF415B { page-break-before:always; clear:both } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sD35C6159 { width:1.54pt; display:inline-block } .sF9A986A5 { width:12.2pt; display:inline-block } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     797   10.12.1998   Press release issued by the Registrar   HEARING IN THE CASE OF PELISSIER AND SASSI v. FRANCE   Thursday 10 December 1998 at 9.30 a.m.     The applicants     The case concerns an application (no. 25444/94) brought by two French nationals, Mr François Pélissier, who was born in 1944 and lives at Sanary-sur Mer, and Mr Philippe Sassi, who was born in 1935 and lives at Cannes. They are both company directors.   Summary of the facts     After a criminal investigation the applicants were committed to stand trial in the Toulon Criminal Court on charges of criminal bankruptcy. That court acquitted them in 1991, finding that they had not acted as de iure or de facto managers. In a judgment delivered on 26   November 1992 the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal upheld that finding but convicted them of aiding and abetting criminal bankruptcy instead. It sentenced them to a suspended term of eighteen months’ imprisonment and imposed a thirty-thousand-franc fine. The applicants’ appeal to the Court of Cassation was dismissed on 14 February 1994.   Complaints     The applicants complain that, without hearing argument from the parties on the issue, the Court of Appeal decided in deliberations to convict the applicants of aiding and abetting criminal bankruptcy, which was not the offence charged. They complained, too, of the length of the proceedings. They relied on Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (a) and (b) of the Convention. Mr   Pélissier also complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that a statement that was used against him by the Court of Appeal should not have been admitted in evidence.   Procedure     The application was lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 18   July 1994. Having found the application admissible, the Commission adopted a report on 13 January 1998 in which it expressed the opinion that there had been a violation of Article   6 §§ 1 and 3 (a) and (b) of the Convention owing to the applicants’ conviction of a different offence from the one charged and the length of the proceedings (unanimously). It referred the case to the old Court on 28 April 1998. The Government of the French Republic also brought the case before the Court.   Composition of the Court     Under the transitional provisions of Protocol No. 11 to the Convention, the case was transmitted to the Grand Chamber of the new European Court of Human Rights on the entry into force of the Protocol, on 1 November 1998. It will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows   Luzius Wildhaber   (Swiss), President , Elisabeth Palm   (Swedish), Vice-President , Nicolas Bratza   (British), Matti Pellonpää   (Finnish), Luigi Ferrari Bravo   (Italian), Gaukur Jörundsson   (Icelandic), Lucius Caflisch   (Swiss), Jean-Paul Costa   (French), Willi Fuhrmann   (Austrian), Karel Jungwiert   (Czech), Marc Fischbach   (Luxemburger), Nina Vajić   (Croatian), John Hedigan   (Irish), Margarita Tsatsa-Nikolovska   (FYROMacedonia), Tudor Pantiru   (Moldovan), Egils Levits   (Latvian), Kristaq Traja   (Albanian), Judges , Wilhelmina Thomassen   (Dutch), Boštjan Zupančič   (Slovenian), Pranas Kūris   (Lithuanian), Substitute Judges ,     and also Michele de Salvia , Registrar , Paul Mahoney , Deputy Registrar , and Maud de   Boer-Buquicchio , Deputy Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Mrs Michèle Dubrocard, Agent , Mr Gilbert Bitti and Mrs Carole Etienne advisers ;   Applicants:   Mr Marc Henry , counsel .     The European Commission of Human Rights will be represented by Mr Roberto Nicolini assisted by Mrs Marie-Thérèse Schoepfer .     After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date.     Subject to his duty of discretion, the Registrar is responsible under the Rules of Court for replying to requests for information concerning the work of the Court, and in particular to enquiries from the press.   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Contact: Roderick Liddell Telephone: (0)3 88 41 24 92; fax: (0)3 88 41 27 91