PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 43626/98) against the French Republic lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a French national, Mr Guy Laumont (“the applicant”), on 16 January 1997.

The applicant, who had been granted legal aid, was represented by Mrs A. Lequerre-Derbise, of the Val-de-Marne Bar. The French Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr R. Abraham, Director of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Relying on Article 5 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention, the applicant complained, in particular, that he had been held in detention arbitrarily in that he had been kept in custody even though the order extending his detention had expired.

The application was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998, when Protocol No. 11 to the Convention came into force (Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11).

The application was allocated to the Second Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1.

By a decision of 31 August 2000 the Chamber declared the application partly admissible [Note by the Registry. The Court’s decision is obtainable from the Registry].

On 27 October 2000 the Government, but not the applicant, filed further written observations on the merits of the case (Rule 59 § 1).

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

On 12 November 1994 four armed robbers wearing masks entered the premises of a transport company which employed a number of inmates from Poissy Prison who were in semi-detention or on external work assignments. After locking the entire staff in the lavatories, they forced the company manager, whom they had taken hostage, to open the safe, from which they stole 120,000 French francs (FRF) in cash before making off. The investigators concentrated their inquiries on some of the prison inmates. One of them, G.D., had witnessed the offences and been threatened by the robbers.

On 13 January 1995 the managing director of the company had a cheque stolen. The home of one of the company’s employees, E.M., was searched and a forged identity card bearing the applicant’s photo was discovered, together with a sawn-off shotgun. The employee admitted that he had provided the applicant with information to help him commit the armed robbery in return for the sum of FRF 10,000. He also stated that he had recognised the applicant while the offence was being committed despite the mask he had been wearing and that the applicant was the robber who had been carrying the sawn-off shotgun.

On 19 January 1995 the investigating judge at the Versailles tribunal de grande instance decided to have the applicant detained pending trial and issued a warrant of commitment for armed robbery, false imprisonment, and wounding with intent and wilful violence resulting in total unfitness for work for less than eight days.

On 18 January 1996 the investigating judge made an order extending detention for four months from 19 January 1996.

The applicant’s detention was twice extended for a further four months, on 14 May 1996 from 19 May onwards and on 13 September 1996 from 19 September onwards.

On 30 September 1996 the investigating judge substituted for the charge of false imprisonment with voluntary release (an intermediate offence (délit)) the more serious one of false imprisonment (crime) and made a partial discharge order. In accordance with Article 181 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he ordered that the file be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office at the Versailles Court of Appeal with a view to the Indictment Division indicting the applicant and committing him for trial at the Assize Court. That order was served on the applicant on 3 October 1996.

In a judgment of 27 November 1996 the Indictment Division of the Versailles Court of Appeal ordered further investigations to be made and appointed for that purpose the investigating judge at the Versailles tribunal de grande instance who had previously been in charge of the investigation.

On 20 January 1997 the applicant requested that a bailiff be called on to record officially that his detention had become unlawful as the last order extending it, dated 13 September 1996 and effective from midnight on 19 September 1996 for a period of four months, had expired at midnight on 19 January 1997.

In a formal demand for information (sommation interpellative) addressed to the governor of Fresnes Prison the bailiff asked to be sent the detention order by virtue of which the applicant was still being held in his prison. In reply he was told that the applicant was being detained under the transfer order of 30 September 1996 and the Versailles Court of Appeal’s judgment of 27 November 1996.

The applicant stated that he had lodged a complaint with the Créteil public prosecutor alleging arbitrary detention but had received no reply.

On 9 April 1997 the applicant made an application to the Indictment Division for his immediate release on the ground that he was being detained arbitrarily as the judge’s initial warrant of commitment had ceased to have any effect on 19 January 1997.

In a judgment of 25 April 1997 the Indictment Division dismissed that application for the following reason: “It is not disputed that the judgment of 27 November 1996 was delivered within the time laid down by the last paragraph of Article 214 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Consequently, since the Indictment Division did not rule on the facts being investigated, the warrant of commitment issued by the investigating judge continued to have effect. …”

In the same judgment the Indictment Division ordered that the applicant should be kept in custody to avoid all risk of pressure being brought to bear on witnesses or collusion and because he could not provide sufficient sureties that he would appear for trial.

The applicant appealed on points of law, relying on grounds of appeal based, firstly, on an infringement of Article 725 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and, secondly, on a breach of Articles 201 and 214 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Article 5 of the Convention.

In a judgment of 19 August 1997 the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal on the following grounds: “It appears from the impugned judgment and the documents on the file that on 19 January 1995 a warrant of commitment was issued in respect of [the applicant], who was under investigation for offences including armed robbery. On expiry of its validity a year later, the investigating judge extended the detention three times for four months, the final extension taking effect on 19 September 1996. On 27 November 1996, following the investigating judge’s transfer order of 30 September 1996, the Indictment Division ordered further investigations. [The applicant] made an application to the Indictment Division for his release, alleging that the detention order had ceased to be valid on 19 January 1997 and that he had been unlawfully detained since that date; that application was refused in the judgment now appealed against. In so ruling, the investigating court did not lay itself open to the objections raised. Since the judges ordered further investigations within the time allowed by Article 214, third paragraph, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the initial warrant of commitment remained effective, in accordance with Article 181, second paragraph, of the Code, after the transfer order was issued and so remains until a decision on indictment is taken …”

On 10 September 1997, after completion of the further investigations, the Indictment Division directed that the applicant be committed for trial at the Yvelines Assize Court charged with armed robbery, false imprisonment and other connected lesser offences. The judgment committing the applicant for trial at the Assize Court also contained an order for him to be remanded in custody. An appeal on points of law by the applicant against that judgment was dismissed by the Court of Cassation on 18 December 1997.

On 9 and 10 June 1998 the applicant was tried at the Versailles Assize Court, which sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment. In a judgment delivered on the same day on the civil claims the applicant was ordered to pay the civil party FRF 50,000 in damages.

In a judgment of 3 March 1999 the Court of Cassation dismissed appeals on points of law by the applicant against the Assize Court’s judgments.