Algerian man wrongly detained in Vaud prison
Published: Tuesday, Apr 9th 2024, 15:30
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled in favor of an Algerian man who is currently in prison in Orbe VD. It considers the detention imposed on the man after he has served his prison sentence to be unlawful.
The Algerian was sentenced to seven years in prison by the District Court of Lausanne in 2011 for attempted murder, among other things. He should have been released from prison in July 2017. However, the Vaudois judiciary then decided to keep the man in custody. The Federal Supreme Court confirmed this measure in 2019. His defense lawyer took the case to the ECHR in summer 2019.
In a ruling published on Tuesday, the Strasbourg judges ruled in favor of the prisoner. In particular, they found that there was no "causal link" between the original judgment from 2011 and the detention imposed seven years later.
"While no new elements allowed a re-examination of the guilt" of this man, the Vaudois judiciary "imposed an additional sentence aimed at protecting society from crimes for which the person concerned had already been convicted", the Court emphasized. It concludes that his continued detention violates Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which refers to the right to liberty.
Bertrand Demierre, the detainee's lawyer, told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request that this sentence falls under the ban on double jeopardy. Although it is possible to impose a sentence retrospectively, the substance of the case would then have to be re-examined, which was not the case with his client.
In addition, he had not received adequate psychological care, but had to make do with "pseudo-treatments".
Switzerland was ordered to pay the prisoner 25,000 euros in compensation for violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, plus 22,000 euros for court costs.
©Keystone/SDA
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