CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 13 juin 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 } .s13F94BDE { font-family:Arial; letter-spacing:-0.1pt } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s33165EBA { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s4598CDF { width:70.9pt; display:inline-block } .sC4CED65A { width:12.24pt; display:inline-block } .sCB27B9E { width:16.66pt; display:inline-block } .sC5412BEF { width:51.05pt; display:inline-block } .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 } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     431   13.6.2000   Press release issued by the Registrar   HEARING IN THE CASE OF WŁOCH v. POLAND   Tuesday, 13 June 2000 at 2.30 p.m.     The applicant   The case concerns an application brought by a Polish national, Adam Włoch, who was born in 1941 and lives in Cracow, Poland. He is a barrister.   Summary of the facts   On 20 September 1994 Mr Włoch was remanded in custody on suspicion of being involved in trading in children, within the meaning of Article IX of the Transitional Provisions of the 1969 Criminal Code, and of inciting others to give false testimony.   He was accused of encouraging parents to give up their children for adoption for money and of inciting biological parents to give false evidence in adoption proceedings, in particular regarding the circumstances in which they had met the adoptive parents. It was noted that he had received remuneration for his services which in certain cases was inordinately high.   On 11 January 1995 the Kraków Court of Appeal released him on the ground that the acts with which he had been charged could not reasonably be qualified as trading in children within the meaning of Article IX.   The criminal proceedings against him are pending.   Complaints   The applicant complains, among other things, of a violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) § 1 (c) of the European Convention on Human Rights, because he was detained on remand when there was no reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime. Considering that, at the time in question, he was carrying out his normal professional obligations as a barrister representing parties at various adoption proceeding, his involvement in these duties could not be qualified as an offence of trading in children. Therefore, his detention lacked any legal basis under Polish law at the relevant time.   He also complains, relying on Article 5 § 4 of the Convention, that various parts of the proceedings concerning review of his detention on remand were not adversarial as neither he nor his lawyer were allowed access to the case-file or to the evidence gathered in the investigations or to the prosecutor's request for the extension of his detention.   Under Article 6 § 1, he complains that the criminal proceedings in his case were not conducted within a reasonable time; they are still in their investigative phase, since the bill of indictment has not yet been lodged with the court.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 5 December 1994, which gave its partial decision on the admissibility of the case on 19 October 1998. The case was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998.     Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Georg Ress (German), President, Antonio Pastor Ridruejo (Spanish), Lucius Caflisch [1] (Swiss), Jerzy Makarczyk (Polish), Volodymyr Butkevych (Ukrainian), John Hedigan (Irish), Matti Pellonpää (Finnish), judges , Ireneu Cabral Barreto , (Portuguese), Nina Vajić (Croatian), Snejana Botoucharova (Bulgarian), substitute judges   and also Vincent Berger, Section Registrar.     Representatives of the parties   Government: Krzysztof Drzewicki, Agent , Małgorzata Wąsek-Wiaderek ,   Andrzej Kaliński, Grzegorz Zyman, Counsel ,   Henryk Komisarski, Adviser;   Applicant:   Mr Włoch .     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. [1] Judge elected in respect of Liechtenstein.