MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-23

2 December 2021

1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)   H46-23 Sarban group v. Republic of Moldova (Application No. 3456/05) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments   Reference document CM/Notes/1419/H46-23

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         recalled that this case concerns various violations of the right to liberty and security as guaranteed under Article 5 of the Convention, arising notably from the lack of relevant and sufficient reasoning when ordering or prolonging detention on remand;

As regards general measures

2.         noted with interest the statistical data provided, welcomed the continued decrease in the number of persons detained on remand in 2020, in comparison with previous years, and invited the authorities to provide updated statistical information for 2021 - 2022;

3.         invited further the authorities to provide information based on the empirical data on the current practices in the reasoning of court decisions ordering and extending detention on remand in recent years and reiterated its firm call to them to continue taking vigorous actions to ensure that deprivation of liberty, based on the principle of presumption in favour of liberty, is used only as a measure of last resort and that detention orders are properly reasoned;

4.         strongly encouraged the authorities to reflect on the impediments preventing the use on non-custodial alternatives to detention on remand and take all necessary measures to ensure that the prosecutors and courts properly consider their use;

5.         noted the information provided by the authorities as concerns summoning defence council in due time to court hearings on detention on remand and decided to close its examination of this aspect;

6.         repeatedly invited the authorities to provide on Article 5 § 4 issues:

- examples of domestic judicial decisions adopted by the first instance courts on habeas corpus requests showing the length of examination of such requests;

- confirmation on the instruction given to judges and prosecutors as concerns their obligation to present the defence with a copy of the file related to the detention request and to properly deal with requests to hear evidence;

7.         repeatedly urged the authorities to adopt the necessary legislative amendments to Law No. 1545 without further delay and to keep the Committee informed on the progress made;

8.         decided to resume their examination of this case at one of their Human Rights meetings in 2023 at the latest.