Spanish man detained without good reason suffered ECHR violations

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Fernandes Pedroso v Portugal the court held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 5 §§ 1, 4 and 5 (right to liberty and security of person / procedural safeguards on review of the lawfulness of detention / right to compensation) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned a criminal investigation into a paedophile ring, and in particular the pre-trial detention of a former Socialist Party MP, Mr Fernandes Pedroso, who had been suspected of having had sexual relations with minors accommodated by the Casa Pia institution, a public institution responsible for running schools, training centres and boarding schools for children and teenagers from deprived backgrounds.

The court found in particular that: at the time when the investigating judge had given his decision on Mr Fernandes Pedroso’s continued pre-trial detention, there had been no plausible suspicions that the applicant had sexually abused minors; the arguments used to justify his detention had not been relevant or sufficient; and the judicial authorities had failed to take into account the possibility of implementing alternative measures to pre-trial detention.

It also found that using the anonymity method (concealing the victims’ identities) vis-à-vis the crucial pieces of evidence to which Mr Fernandes Pedroso had been denied access would have been sufficient to protect the victims’ privacy.

In rejecting Mr Fernandes Pedroso’s compensation claim for unlawful detention, the domestic courts had failed to interpret and apply domestic law in the spirit of Article 5 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.

The court noted in that connection that Mr Pedroso had no remedy in domestic law enabling him to claim compensation after delivery of the present judgment.