CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 2 juillet 2003

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POLAND   Wednesday 2 July 2003 at 9 a.m.   The applicants   The case concerns an application (no. 44158/98) brought by three Polish nationals who are all from Upper Silesia. They are Jerzy Gorzelik, born in 1971, who is a university lecturer living in Katowice (Poland), Rudolf Kołodziejczyk, born in 1940, who is an economist living in Rybnik (Poland) and Erwin Sowa, born in 1944, who is a steelworker living in Katowice.   Summary of the facts   The applicants and 190 others attempted to form an association called the “Union of People of Silesian Nationality” ( Związek Ludności Narodowości Śląskiej ). The Polish authorities refused to register the association on the ground that both the intended name and certain provisions of the union’s memorandum of association, which characterised Silesians as a “national minority”, suggested that their real intention was to circumvent the provisions of the electoral law. Also, had the members of the Union been recognised as a “national minority”, they would automatically have gained unqualified and legally enforceable privileges. The appeals against that decision failed.   Complaint   The applicants complain that the decision not to register their association violated their right to freedom of association, guaranteed by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 18   June 1998 and transmitted to the European Court of Human Rights on 1 November 1998. It was declared admissible on 17 May 2001.   In its Chamber judgment of 20 December 2001, considering that the Polish authorities had acted reasonably, in order to protect the country’s electoral system, the Court held unanimously that there had been no violation of Article 11 (freedom of association). The applicants requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber (Article 43 of the Convention) and the panel of the Grand Chamber accepted the request on 10 July 2002   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:   Luzius Wildhaber (Swiss), President , Christos Rozakis (Greek), Jean-Paul Costa (French), Georg Ress (German), Giovanni Bonello (Maltese), Pranas Kūris (Lithuanian) Riza Türmen (Turkish) , Viera Strážnická (Slovakian) , Corneliu Bîrsan (Romanian) , Boštjan Zupančič (Slovenian) , Hanne Sophie Greve (Norwegian) , Egil Levits (Latvian) , Anatoli Kovler (Russian) , Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese) , Elisabeth Steiner (Austrian) , Stanislav Pavlovschi (Moldovan), Lech Garlicki (Polish), judges , Josep Casadevall (Andorran) , substitute judge , and also Paul Mahoney , Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Krzysztof Drzewicki , Agent , Renata Kowalska , Counsel , Kazimierz Wojciech Czaplicki, Małgorzata Kosicka , Danuta Głowacka-Mazur , Dobiesław Rzemieniewski and Renata Hliwa , Advisers ;   Applicants:   Sławomir Waliduda , Counsel , Magdalena Krygiel-Bartoszewicz and Dariusz Tychowski , Advisers.   Jerzy Gorzelik 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: +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.