CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 8 avril 2003

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s5FFF0A77 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:1pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s94935B0F { width:389.85pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s61E420C2 { font-family:Arial; font-variant:small-caps } .s8A3CF086 { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt; font-size:13pt } .s4B4B41EE { font-family:Arial; font-size:12pt } .s18D96D33 { width:15.69pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s8408AAD1 { font-family:Arial; font-size:12pt; font-weight:bold } .s927039E3 { font-family:Arial; font-size:12pt; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sE0D34C67 { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .sBF401EEE { width:32.35pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s3C4DB099 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; font-size:10pt } .sAD66F3FB { width:10.59pt; display:inline-block } .s901C2590 { width:56.7pt; display:inline-block }   EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     191   8.4.2003   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING ON THE ADMISSIBILITY AND MERITS IN THE CASE OF SLIMANI v. FRANCE   Tuesday 8 April 2003 at 2.30 p.m.   The applicant   The case concerns an application (no. 57671/00) brought by a French national, Dalila Slimani, who was born in 1969 and lives in Marseilles. Her companion, Mohsen Sliti, a Tunisian national, by whom she had two children, died on 26   May 1999 while in detention pending deportation.   Summary of the facts   On 2 October 1990 Mr Sliti was sentenced by Marseilles Criminal Court to four years’ imprisonment and an order was made permanently excluding him from French territory. That measure was not executed immediately after he had served his prison sentence.   In 1998 Mr Sliti set fire to the applicant’s home and threatened to throw himself out of the window with his son. He was compulsorily admitted to the Edouard Toulouse Hospital in Marseilles and later transferred to Beaumettes Prison. A number of medical reports stated that he required psychiatric treatment and he received medical treatment in the form of a combination of anti-depressants, tranquillisers and neuroleptics. He was subsequently held in the Marseilles-Arenc Detention Centre pending deportation.   On 24 May 1999 the President of Marseilles Tribunal de Grande Instance made an order authorising Mr   Sliti’s continued detention pending the issue of a document permitting cross-border travel. Mr Sliti’s appeal against that order was dismissed.   On 26 May 1999 Mr Sliti refused twice to take his medicines. He was taken ill and was transferred to hospital on the same day where he died shortly afterwards. An inquiry was commenced pursuant to Article 74 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in order to “establish the causes of death”. The applicant was refused permission to take part in the inquiry. She applied to the investigating judge and subsequently to the president of the indictment division for an order requiring the inquiry papers to be sent to the public prosecutor with a view to the scope of the inquiry being enlarged to include voluntary homicide. Her application was dismissed, notably on the ground that “she did not have standing to request investigative steps in an inquiry into the causes of death”.   Complaints   The applicant complains under Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights that her companion’s death was caused by serious failings on the part of the authorities. Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), she complains of the conditions in which he was held at the detention centre. She also complains under Article 8 of a breach of her right to respect for her and her children’s family life. She complains under Article 6 (right to a fair trial) that Mr Sliti was not afforded an opportunity to make representations to the Court of Appeal and that the President of the tribunal de grande instance did not take the seriousness of his condition into account. Lastly, she complains that she was not given an opportunity to take part in the inquiry into the causes of death, in particular, in that she could not join the proceedings as a civil party.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 27 April 2000.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   András Baka (Hungarian), President , Jean-Paul Costa (French), Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot), Corneliu Bîrsan (Romanian), Karel Jungwiert (Czech), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese), judges , Volodymyr Butkevych (Ukrainian) , substitute judge , and also Lawrence Early , Deputy Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Antoine Buchet , Agent , Frederik Rogge, Deputy Agent, Frédérique Doublet , Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban , Frédéric Amegadje ,   Counsel ;   Applicant:   Christine Ravaz , Counsel .   Dalila Slimani will also attend the hearing.   ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility - and, if appropriate, a judgment - will be delivered at a later date.   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Joanna Reynell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (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.