PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 18157/04) against the Republic of Poland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Polish national, Mr Paweł Kurczewski (“the applicant”), on 7 May 2004.

The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr J. Wołąsiewicz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 4 May 2006 the Court declared the application partly inadmissible and decided to communicate the complaint concerning the excessive length of the applicant's detention to the Government. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1979 and lives in Gdańsk.

On 16 April 2002 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of having committed robbery.

On 17 April 2002 the Gdańsk District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) remanded him in custody until 16 July 2002 on reasonable suspicion that he had committed the offence in question. The court also considered that keeping the applicant in detention was justified by the existence of strong and substantial evidence, in particular testimonies of a victim and witnesses. It also gave as a ground for detention the severity of the likely sentence. Further, the court considered that, given the risk that the applicant might tamper with evidence, in particular intimidate witnesses, keeping him in detention was necessary to secure the proper conduct of the investigation.

On 13 May 2002, following an appeal by the applicant, the Gdańsk Regional Court upheld that decision.

The applicant's further appeals against decisions extending his detention and all his subsequent, numerous applications for release and appeals against refusals to release him, were unsuccessful.

In the course of the investigation, the applicant's detention was extended on four occasions. The relevant decisions were given by the Gdańsk District Court on 15 July and 15 October 2002, and later on 15 January and 10 April 2003.

In all their detention decisions the authorities repeatedly relied on the original grounds given for the applicant's detention. They also attached importance to the need to extend the investigation in the light of new charges against the applicant, and to obtain fresh evidence, in particular evidence from experts.

On 25 March 2003 the applicant was indicted before the Gdańsk District Court. He was charged with robbery and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The bill of indictment concerned five defendants and, in all, twelve charges were brought against them. The prosecution asked the court to hear evidence from around forty witnesses. Further, the bill of indictment included fifty items of evidence to be produced at the hearing.

On 5 June 2003 the trial court held the first hearing. It subsequently scheduled sixteen hearings in the case. Four of them were cancelled for various reasons.

In particular, it appears that no hearing took place between 14 August 2003 and 15 January 2004. Hearings scheduled for 9 October and 11 December 2003 were cancelled due to, among other things, the failure to bring the co-accused to trial from prison, and the fact that a hearing scheduled for 6 November 2003 had to be cancelled because a trial judge was on mission.

During the court proceedings the court ordered several expert opinions.

In the meantime, the authorities further extended the applicant's detention pending trial on many occasions.

The relevant decisions were given on the following dates.

At a hearing on 9 October 2003 the Gdańsk District Court extended the applicant's detention until 15 January 2004. Subsequently, on 11 March 2004 it extended his detention until 15 April 2004. Since on 16 April 2004 the applicant's detention had reached the statutory time-limit of two years laid down in Article 263§ 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Kodeks postępowania karnego), further extension of his detention was ordered by the Gdańsk Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny). On 23 March 2004 it extended his detention until 30 June 2004. The next decision was given by the Gdańsk Court of Appeal on 29 June 2004, when it extended his detention until 15 August 2004. In all those decisions the courts stated that the grounds originally given for the applicant's detention were still valid. They repeated the grounds previously given for his continued detention.

All the appeals and applications for release lodged by the applicant were to no avail.

On 28 July 2004 the Gdańsk District Court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to four years' imprisonment.

The applicant appealed on 7 December 2004. His detention was subsequently extended on several occasions.

The appellate hearings scheduled for 12 October and 12 December 2005 and 2 February 2006 were cancelled for various reasons, such as illness or absence of defence lawyers, and the need to obtain evidence.

On 3 February 2006 the Gdańsk Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) quashed the applicant's detention order. He was released on the same date.

It appears that the first-instance judgment was upheld by the Gdańsk Regional Court on 11 July 2007.