Case of European Court of Human Rights, December 12, 1991 (case Clooth v. Belgium)

• Resolution Date: December 12, 1991

Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.

November-December 1991

Clooth v. Belgium - 12718/87

Judgment 12.12.1991

Article 5

Article 5-3

Length of pre-trial detention

Length of detention on remand: violation

[This summary is extracted from the Court’s official reports (Series A or Reports of Judgments and Decisions). Its formatting and structure may therefore differ from the Case-Law Information Note summaries.]

I.              ARTICLE 5 § 3 OF THE CONVENTION

A.              Period to be taken into consideration

Starting-point: applicant's arrest.

End: decision of indictments division confirming order of chambre du conseil for applicant's release.

Total: three years, two months and four days.

B.              Reasonableness of the length of detention

Decisions to continue detention based essentially on three grounds:

– Danger of repetition: may lead judicial authorities to place and leave suspect in detention on remand provided that danger is a plausible one and the measure appropriate in the light of the circumstances of the case (in particular past history and personality of person concerned) – in this instance previous convictions not comparable in nature or degree of seriousness to charges preferred in the contested proceedings – ground did not in itself justify continuation of the detention after the communication of an expert's report referring to necessity of psychiatric care for the applicant.

– Needs of...