SECOND SECTION  CASE OF NEVMERZHITSKY v. UKRAINE  (Application no. 54825/00)  JUDGMENT  STRASBOURG  5 April 2005   FINAL  12/10/2005   This judgment will become final in the circumstances set out in Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.In the case of Nevmerzhitsky v. Ukraine,The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Mr J.-P. Costa, President, Mr A.B. Baka, Mr I. Cabral Barreto, Mr K. Jungwiert, Mr V. Butkevych, Ms A. Mularoni, Ms D. Jočienė, judges,and Mrs S. Dollé, Section Registrar,Having deliberated in private on 15 March 2005,Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:PROCEDURE1. The case originated in an application (no. 54825/00) against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Ukrainian national, Mr Yevgen Ivanovych Nevmerzhitsky (“the applicant”), on 21 June 1999.2. The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Ms Valeria Lutkovska, succeeded by Ms Zoryana Bortnovska.3. The applicant alleged, in particular, that the length of his detention had been unreasonable and that his detention pending trial had been unlawful (Article 5 §§ 1(c) and 3 of the Convention). He also complained under Article 3 of the Convention that he had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.4. 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 § 1.5. By a decision of 25 November 2003, the Court declared the application partly admissible.6. The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1). The Chamber decided, after consulting the parties, that no hearing on the merits was required (Rule 59 § 3 in fine). The parties replied in writing to each other's observations.7. On 1 November 2004 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed Second Section (Rule 52 § 1).THE FACTS8. The applicant, Mr Evgen Nevmerzhitsky, is a Ukrainian national, who was born in Kyiv in 1970 and currently resides there. He was formerly the manager of a branch of the Poltava Bank in Kyiv. The applicant was represented by Mr Portyanik, a lawyer practising in Kyiv.I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE9. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.A. The criminal proceedings brought against the applicant10. On 28 September 1995 police officers seized 184,761 US dollars (USD) that had been stored by the applicant on the premises of the Poltava Bank in readiness for their sale to a customer, Y.G.L.11. On 18 October 1995 the Investigative Division of the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kyiv (“the Investigative Division”) began a criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful currency transactions that had allegedly been committed by the applicant.12. On 8 April 1997 the Investigative Department initiated criminal proceedings in respect of the involvement of the applicant and other suspects in the case. On the same date an investigator from the division decided that the applicant should be detained as a suspect pending a decision concerning the appropriate preventive measure.

Article of the Convention at issue: Article 3
Outcome: violation