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Stopp & Stopp
Pro Bono
Case before the European Court of Human Rights Case on the European Human Rights Convention regarding the German law of Preventive Detention
The Firm's partner, Dr. Alexander Stopp, represented, together with Rechtsanwalt and Fachanwalt für Strafrecht Berhard Schroer of Marburg, Germany, complainant in a hearing before the European Court of Human Rights www.echr.coe.int/echr/ in Strasbourg on July 1, 2008 (Complaint No. 19359/04 M. vs . Federal Republic of Germany).
The complaint was launched against the Federal Republic of Germany in a case involving the retroactive prolongation of preventive detention. The complaint holds that the retroactive application or prolongation of preventive detention is illegal just as a retroactive imposition of a new or heavier criminal penalty would be. The complainant argues that preventive detention under German law has to be qualified as a criminal penalty under the European Human Rights Convention. The German legislature reversed the ten year limit for the first time imposition of preventive detention, making preventive detention for an indefinite time. The third Chamber was asked to find a violation of Article 7 of the Human Rights Convention and to hold for the complainant who initially was sentenced to preventive detention for a ten year term. Complainant is now held indefinitely in preventive detention even though at the time when the crime was committed the preventive detention was limited to ten years.
The Firm's client also asks for damages, having served approximately 23 years in prison and preventive detention for attempted murder, which is 8 years more than allowed under the laws prevailing when the crime was committed.
Qualifying preventive detention as a "penalty" for purposes of the European Human Rights Convention, would likely entail a fundamentally new orientation of the law of preventive detention in Germany and other European countries, especially regarding the retroactive imposition of preventive detention.
Dr. Stopp represented Applicant in the oral hearing before the European Court of Human Rights on July 1, 2009 (see streaming of the hearing http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/EN/Header/Press/Multimedia/Webcasts+of+public+hearings/webcastEN_media?&p_url=20080701-1/lang/).
The matter was adjudicated by the Court in a Chamber Judgment dated December 17, 2009, which held unanimously for the Firm’s client and granted a compensation for non-material damages in the amount of € 50.000 (see the judgment: http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=860012&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 ).
The judgment is final, an appeal by Germany has been rejected on May 10, 2010.
Stopp & Stopp Anwaltskanzlei - Paul-Ehrlich-Straße 24 - D-60596 Frankfurt am Main - Germany
Telefon: (+49) 69-68097730 - Fax: (+49) 69-68097732 - Email: stoppandstopp@t-online.de