CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 17 octobre 2000

.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 } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sD35C6159 { width:1.54pt; display:inline-block } .sD086E7B5 { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:70.9pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-70.9pt } .sCFE25540 { width:12.2pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sCB27B9E { width:16.66pt; display:inline-block } .sC5412BEF { width:51.05pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     731   17.10.2000   Press release issued by the Registrar   HEARING IN THE CASE OF SOCIÉTÉ STRATÉGIES ET COMMUNICATION AND LUC DUMOULIN v. BELGIUM   Tuesday 17 October 2000 at 9 a.m.   IN CAMERA The applicants   The first applicant, Société Stratégies et Communication, a public limited company incorporated under Belgian law, is an institutional and political communication agency with its registered office in Brussels. The second applicant, Luc Dumoulin, a Belgian national who was born in 1954, is the company’s managing director.   Summary of the facts   On 24 April 1996 searches were conducted at the offices of the first applicant and the home of Mr Dumoulin, in the context of a judicial investigation concerning the second applicant, who was suspected of forgery, uttering forgeries and fraud, these offences having been committed in connection with various public supply contracts concluded with the Brussels-Capital Region. Details of the investigation’s uneven progress were regularly published in the press.   Since the searches, over a period of more than four years, the second applicant has allegedly been questioned by the investigating authorities at irregular intervals. To date, he has still not been charged in connection with the case, which, it is submitted, has caused him considerable prejudice. It is alleged that it is not possible for him to win a single contract as his company has regularly been vilified by the press.   Complaints   Relying on Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to a fair trial), the applicants complain of the length of the criminal proceedings against the second applicant. They assert that, since their application was lodged, the investigation has made little further progress. The bookkeeping documents have not been returned and the applicant company has allegedly lost such a large proportion of its clients that its turnover has slumped dramatically since April 1996.   The applicants further complain that the judicial authorities have done nothing to remedy the slowness of the investigation, although they have drawn the problem to their attention, with the result that they have been deprived of an effective remedy to correct or obtain redress for the consequences of the unreasonable length of the criminal proceedings against the second applicant. In that connection they rely on Article 13 of the Convention (right to an effective remedy), taken together with Article 6.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 23 July 1997 and on 1 November 1998 was referred to the Court.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Jean-Paul Costa (French), President , Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot), Pranas Kūris (Lithuanian), Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), Karel Jungwiert (Czech), Hanne Sophie Greve (Norwegian), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), judges, Willi Fuhrmann (Austrian), Nicolas Bratza (British), Kristaq Traja (Albanian), substitute judges ,   and also Sally Dollé , Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Jan Lathouwers, Agent , Beatrix Vanlerberghe, Adviser ;   Applicants:   Michel Franchimont and Georges-Henri Beauthier, Counsel , Pierre Beyens, Adviser .   Mr Dumoulin will also attend the hearing.   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 Contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: (0)3 90 21 42 15) Fax: (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.